Everything Dies
by BridgetoNowhere
Summary: When the world dies, humanity and morality dies with it. The only powerful enough to get you through this zombie apocalyptic world is love, but finding it isn't as easy as it seems. Mostly Faberry, sorry.
1. Chapter 1

Thinking back on the past, it's funny. Life was so different before. I was able to laugh, to dream, to love. My life was at the best it ever had been and then everything came crashing down.

Happiness, laughter, dreams, love, humanity. They don't exist anymore.

To think that was just a few weeks ago is bizarre, it feels like we've been shut up in this building for a lifetime. We're barely surviving. The others, well three of them are beginning to go crazy I'm sure of it. And although I am packed in this dark,condensed space with four other people, I have never felt so alone in my entire life. They urge me to try harder, to help them find supplies that will keep us alive but it all seems pointless now. Death appears to be the easy way out now, why don't the rest of them see that?

Santana does though. They have her under "observation" in case she tries to kill herself again. She has tried three times now. Instead, she now just spends these endless days sitting beside me. She doesn't talk much, all of her sass and attitude has been drained. Occasionally I hear her crying and the others tell me to comfort her but I'm the only one who understands that that is the time when she most wants to be left alone.

Blaine and Kurt, they're becoming unbearable to watch, they never leave each others side. They even tidy the apartment . They take control of the supplies and rations. They keep convincing us that everything will be ok if we work together, but they are foolish. Nothing is going to be ok. We can't win this, but their optimism has them blinded. But what really makes them insufferable is the fact that they still have each other. They still know what it feels like to have love in their lives. They're still full of hope and encouragement.

The rest of us are alone and miserable.

Puck has taken it upon himself to take charge of everything. He had come to New York for a weekend before the outbreak, little did he know he would end up living like this. He orders us around and every so often organises ventures out of the apartment in an attempt to find food or human contact, so far we've been unsuccesful in finding the latter. He's become some sort of an army general. He orders us around in a military tone so it's hard to argue with him. He's lost all sense of emotion and fear, I wish we were all that way.

We have a small radio in the apartment, at first we were sure it would keep us updated about the situation but soon all life began to fade. Every so often Kurt checks it, trying to find a station but there's no use.

We have one phone left between us but the battery is slowly dying, we have no power to charge it. We had firsr decided that we would just one phone at a time and wait until the battery had died until we turned on the next. We tried calling people but we never got a reply, we waited for calls but they never came either.

Now we're left with my phone, it has no longer than a few minutes left to live. I just sit here watching the minutes tick byas we wait for it to die, like everything else has. The three boys have gone out on another pointless, short venture.

It's been three weeks since the outbreak, it's all a surreal blur to me. I had just returned to NY after spending two days in Ohio, Santana is the only one who knows why I was there so only she understands what I'm going through at the moment.

I close my eyes and think back to those days in Ohio, before everything went wrong.

_**"There are scientists online saying they've discovered some new epidemic and they're working on some new shot to protect us from catching it," Her sweet voice whispered in my ear.**_

_** "Oh," I sighed, not really paying attention.**_

_**"What's wrong Rachel? You came all the way here and now you seem miserable."**_

_**"It's just that, it seems wrong, what we're doing, you and Puck have just rekindled a few weeks ago."**_

_** She sighed with a smile. "Me and Puck never confirmed anything, I have tried showing him I'm not interested anymore, he's just not picking up the hints. Rachel you know I love you."**_

_** "I'm just worried about what they're going to say," I mumbled.**_

_** "Look Rachel I don't understand what you're so afraid of? Why are you so scared of accepting that this is real? Is it because of Finn?"**_

_**"No,I'm just still figuring things out," I confessed.**_

_**"You mean you haven't figured this out?" She frowned.**_

_**"No!" I protested. "I love you, you know I do, I'm just confused."**_

_** "Well let me know when you have worked it all out," she mumbled in a sad voice and left the room.**_

"you're thinking about her again," Santana whispers, and I snap back to the present.

"How do you always know that?" I ask.

"You have this certain look on your face, it's so depressing," she sighs. "Everybody knows when you're grieving. But I'm the only one who knows you're not grieving for Finn."

Finn. I'm just so glad he didn't have to live through this nightmare.

Santana points to my phone. "The battery is dying anyway, you may as well make some good use out out it," she urges me in a gentle whisper and I know what's implying.

I sigh and dial the number which I know by heart. It goes straight to voicemail without even ringing.

_**"Hi, you've reached the cell phone of Ms Quinn Fabray, please leave a message and I'll get back to you. Bye!"**_

I took a deep breath and waited for the beep. "Q, it's me, again, my phone is dying and I won't be able to contact you again, we're still in New York, in our apartment, but Puck wants to move soon. Quinn, just please be ok, please be safe out there. I miss you."

And as I hung up, the phone died.


	2. Chapter 2

**Author's Note: Hi! I try not to have notes in my first chapter, so if you're reading this I guess it means that my first chapter was ok-ish? I realise that glee/zombie fics are really popular these days but I promise to try and make this original as possible. Also I'm not one of these writers who believes in waiting for a certain number of reviews before writing the next chapter, I write when I want and because it helps me de-stress, but I really would appreciate feedback, even if it is anonymous, and I will try to get back to anyone who does leave a review. Thanks for reading, now, on with the story!**

* * *

"Rachel!" Puck shouts. "Pay attention."

I quickly snap myself whatever daydream I've lead myself into and listen to whatever he's droning on about.

"Now, remember there is a red jeep, just a few blocks down the next street. Don't make any loud noises or it will alert the zombies. Remember these are not real people, if they attack you , you kill them. Any bites must be reported immediately! Also, do not fire a gun unless it is crucial, understand? Good, now if we all follow the plan, we might just make it out of here alive."

The plan, we've heard it at least ten times in the last half hour, but we are, crouched together at the barricaded door that will lead us out into an unknown world. It's been four weeks, it's time to leave New York and find other people, that's the key to surviving, according to Kurt and Blaine anyway. I would much prefer to stay here and die where I'm comfortable.

Santana squeezes my shoulder, she's still crying. "Rachel," she whispers. "I'm not ready for this."

"We'll get through this together," I promise her and squeeze her hand.

"But I don't want to slow you guys down," She cries. "I'm not ready to see all those people. What if I see Dani? I can't kill her, even if she is a monster."

Seeing Santana this way really hurts, she's lost herself to fear and misery. The fiery, self-confident latina has been replaced by a weak, nail-biting child. She hasn't brushed her hair in weeks and she has barely eaten.

"It'll be okay," I try to reassure her but I don't sound too convincing. "We'll be out of the city in a few minutes and then we'll be on our way back to Lima."

I sigh to myself. Kurt and Blaine came up with a grand suggestion that we should return to Lima before heading north to Canada, to see if we can find any of our families or friends. I'm not so convinced about the plan, it could just end up becoming a nightmare. I don't want to face dead friends or relatives, besides, what if they're already on their way to find us? I've kept trying to convince Puck to let us stay here a little while longer but he just ignores me. He says it's essential that we move on.

"Is everybody ready?" Puck whispers, he only gets two nods in reply, but it's good enough for him. He slowly begins to clear the doorway and pushes it open. The strong wind hits us like a hundred daggers. "Remember," he instructs. "Stay in a single file."

He slowly creeps out of the building, followed by Blaine, then Kurt. I grab hold of Santana and drag her behind me. I take one deep breath as I step out of the apartment block for what is probably the last time and come face to face with the dead, grey monstrosity that was once New York City.

The site is a horrible one. There is no sign of life anywhere, no bright lights, no taxi horns. There is not a person in sight. Adjacent buildings have been rundown and many windows are smashed. Cars are parked in random spots along the road and there is an eery silence that I can't come to terms with. Everything I knew about this city, just a month ago, is dead. The joint smell of hot dogs, car exhausts and smog has been replaced by what can only be described as death.

"Hurry up!" Puck hisses ahead of us. "Be on the look out for any zombies."

I clutch the hand gun he has given me. We each have a gun as well as some sort of sharp utensil. Puck found all of our weapons in the apartment block, it turns out that I had some pretty crazy neighbours. In Puck's bag there are three spare guns aswell as plenty of ammo. Enough to last us a while anyway, Puck says it won't take long before we have to stock up again.

The footpath is filthy with dust and papers aswell as black splashes of dry blood. I feel nauseated looking at it so I keep my eyes focused on the back of Kurt's head. Behind me, Santana is whimpering softly.

The sky is a dry, bright blue, the sun is hidden by the skyscrapers in the distance. it's just about midday, Puck says there's less zombies around at this time because the sun is too hot and bright. He's been observing them a lot from the rooftop of the apartment block as well as his ventures outside. They don't like the cold either he says, that's why we're going to Canada, but he couldn't know that, because it's summer. I guess he saw it on one of these T.v shows we never thought would actually become reality.

The city I returned to a month ago is unrecognisable, I had never felt so happy to be back in New York when I returned from Lima.

_**"Well look who has returned," Santana grinned knowingly as I arrived in the door of our apartment. **_

_** "Is Kurt here?" I asked immediately.**_

_**"No, he's out with his over attached boyfriend and Sam and Artie, I really don't know how many more times I can tolerate them coming up here, it's just like being back in Lima all over again. Anyway, tell me all about your rendezvous, gosh Rachel, I still can't get over it. A little good girl like you, and Quinn! What did you two get up to in that hotel?" She giggled.**_

_** "Ssh," I sighed and threw myself onto the sofa.**_

_** "Oh what happened?" She frowned and sat down beside me. "You didn't like it? Come on Rachel, what's not to love?"**_

_**"Santana," I rolled my eyes. "I upset her, I told her I wasn't ready yet, that I was confused. Now she's mad so I'm mad with myself too. I was supposed to tell her how I really felt but I got scared."**_

_** "There's no reason to be scared. I'm sure she feels the same way about you, give her a day or too, then you can call her and tell her," Santana smiled kindly. A vibration suddenly came from her back pocket, she reached behind her and pulled out her cellphone and raised to her ear.**_

_**"Mom, hi," She said into the phone. "What? Mom, calm down I can't hear what you're saying. Mom I'm fine, what are you talking about? I can't understand you?"**_

_** She frowned and placed her cellphone gently on the table in front of us. **_

_**"What's wrong?" I questioned.**_

_**"I don't know, that was my Mom, she was panicking over something but I couldn't understand her, I'm going to go outside so I can get a better signal. Dani text me earlier so I'm going to go walk her home after her shift. I'll be back soon."**_

_** "Ok," I sighed.**_

_**"Hey Rachel, cheer up," Santana smiled. "Things can only get **_**better."**

"Rachel," Santana squeals, and I instantly snap back to the present.

"Santana it's ok," I whisper soothingly.

"No Rachel," She cries, "Look, over there." She points her finger to something across the street. I squint and see a figure, moving slowly towards us. Whoever it is, they're making an ungodly sound, which is a mixture of a screech and a groan. Reality hits me like a bullet and I suddenly realise what I'm looking at. It is the ugliest thing I have ever seen. Half of its yellow skinned face has rotted away showing raw muscle and bone, it's also wearing the remains of what I think is a police uniform.

"Puck," I cry out in fear.

The three boys stop and turn to me with confused faces, I point across the street and they understand.

"Come on, we have to keep going," Puck urges. "It's just one, we'll lose it."

"Look again Puck," Blaine mutters, suddenly the zombie is not alone, others begin to appear from behind. Santana lets out a scream in horror and it immediately catches their attention.

"Run!" Puck shouts. I grip Santana's hand tightly and we chase after the boys. The zombies follow slowly behind us, groaning loudly.

"This way!" Puck is ordering us, Santana's palm is sweating in mine as we follow.

"Over there!" He shouts again, our target is in sight, I see the red jeep just ahead of us. It's a good thing too, there are suddenly zombies coming from everywhere. They must have heard Santana's scream. We are out of their grasp but if Puck can't start this jeep we might just be doomed.

Blaine swings open the side door and orders us to get in. I jump in and pull Santana in behind me. Kurt sits in beside her and locks the door. Blaine and Puck have jumped into the front seat.

"Drive!" Kurt screams in fear. We can see the crowd of at least two dozen zombies coming behind us through the side mirrors. My heart is racing as Puck turns the key. The engine starts and I can finally breathe again. He steps on the accelerator and we are gone.

The car fills with relief as Puck races through the dead streets, it's obvious he has planned this all as he turns through side streets which are free from abandoned cars.

"Let's get out of this city," he mutters. Santana clenches my hand, I gently put her head on my shoulder. I close my eyes, there is too much fear inside of me, I won't feel remotely safe until we are out of the concrete jungle. It's funny, my feelings for New York have changed so much in just a few minutes. Before we left the building, I wanted to stay in the city forever, but now I just want to escape. I always imagined that when the time came for me to leave New York, I would be a retired Broadway star,a rich and famous dream-fulfiller. Look how that's turned out.

Only as I sit back in the soft grey chairs, I realise what we have done. This isn't our jeep, we've committed a crime, but it just doesn't feel wrong. I don't know where Puck got the keys or fuel but I don't even care. I've always obeyed the law and followed rules but there's no rules to follow anymore. Society is dead.

"Rachel, are you ok?" Kurt whispers, he looks so frightened.

"I'm just tried, and terrified," I confess. "I just want to get out of here."

"Go to sleep," he suggests. "It might be your only chance and by the time you wake up, it'll all be behind us."

I haven't slept properly in days, I've been so worried about leaving New York that it kept me awake. I glance down at Santana beside me to check on her, but she's already asleep. She looks peaceful for once. I decide I may as well give in to tiredness while I can and I close my eyes.

* * *

When I wake up, there is no sight of the city, instead Puck is swerving around cars gently.

"How long was I asleep?" I ask Kurt quietly so I don't wake the sleeping Latina on my shoulder.

"Not long," He replies. "But look Rachel, we're out, it's all behind us." He points out the rear window. I turn slightly and see the dead, grey city, all traits of its magnificence are gone. It once was the beholder of all my dreams, now I may never return to it. I feel Santana stretching awake beside me.

"I was asleep?" She gasps. "I didn't mean to, wait, where are we?"

"We're free," Blaine says with a hint of relief. Santana's face falls as she glances out the rear window, she places her palm on the pane. "Dani," she says under her breath.

I take her hand. "I'm sorry," I whisper, but she hangs her head and cries silently, her tears fall on the grey seats. There's an uneasy feeling in my chest, Santana has lost Dani and I've experienced the feelings she's going through. I just don't want to experience them again.

"We just got to keep moving," Puck says. "We can go home now and find the others, I'm going to find my girl."

I say nothing and turn my gaze to the road outside my window. Little does Puck know that we're searching for the same person and he's going to find out sooner or later. I just really hope it's later and that he won't kill me for it.

Oh Quinn, I really hope you're out there.


	3. Chapter 3

"This is a ten hour journey normally, but it could take longer," Puck explains as we approach the highway. "We're going to have to look for gas at some stage, but we're going to keep going for as long as we can."

The intimidating, grey road lies ahead of us. There are cars parked in the lanes, some with door left wide open,and some that we have to swerve hours in this enclosed, heated vehicle could surely enough drive anyone mad. I'm terrified, there is so much that could go wrong, we could break down, we could crash or we could run into a hoard of zombies from which there will be no escape.

"Seven hours," Kurt sighs. "We can't drive for seven hours, it will be dark soon."

"We have to keep going," I insist, I need this journey to be over as soon as possible.

"He's right, Rachel." Blaine agrees. "Puck has said himself, it's not safe to be outside in the dark. Don't worry, we'll get to Lima soon and find everyone. Everything's going to be fine."

This is how I know that they've started to go crazy. They come out with such positive statements which cannot be and will never be true. Find everyone? There's no chance. Everything is not going to be fine. An epidemic has wiped out our country and turned its people into flesh-eating monsters in four weeks. Everything we have known to this point in our lives is gone, how can Blaine say something like that so casually? I want to argue with him but I don't have the energy to rain on anyone's parade right now. I suppose staying silent is better than having another person in the vehicle crying.

"Do you think the others made it back?" Kurt asks fearfully.

"I hope so," Blaine sighs. By the others, they mean Sam and Artie, they were the lucky ones, or so we thought.

_** There was a rapid knocking of a fist on the door. "Who is it?" Santana yelled in annoyance from the sofa, she hated being disturbed, especially when watching television. **_

_** "It's us!" Kurt's frantic voice replied. Santana looked at me then returned her eyes to the tv. I narrowed my eyes at her, ever since she had reconciled with Dani a month ago after her temporary fling with Brittany, she was rarely home which meant that I was the one who had to keep the apartment tidy and do all the chores. When she did grace us with her presence every evening, she would claim she was too tired to do anything and sat on the sofa instead. My patience for her was growing short.**_

_** "It's ok, I'll get it," I remarked sarcastically as walked over to the door. It had been two days since my return from Lima, and I had not yet seen Kurt who according to Santana, had stayed in Blaine's apartment with Artie and Sam for a few nights.**_

_** I unlocked the door to find Kurt and Blaine standing there trembling. "Rachel," Kurt said in tiny, weak breath.**_

_** "Kurt!" I exclaimed. "You look terrible. What happened?"**_

_** "Haven't you been watching the news?" He cried as he pushed his way into the apartment. Blaine followed him like a shadow. **__**He marched over to Santana and took the remote control out of her hands and flicked the screen to the news channel. **_

_** A pale, visibly distressed news reporter appeared, with beads of perspiration running down her forehead. "The infection known as "Kleinachin's disease", named after the two scientists who first identified it, has no cure or explanation of origin so far." The reporter announced gravely, I shot a confused look at Santana who shrugged.**_

_**"Scientists have not released any details apart from the announcement that the victims in the later stages of the disease must be avoided at all times as they are a grave threat to others, possibly causing death. The areas worst affected are the Southern states as well as the states pf Ohio and Kentucky. All interstate transport systems have been shut down as of midday in an attempt to restrict the spreading of the epidemic which is spreading across the USA as well as South America rapidly. It has been reported to us that the disease can be spread by contact with the infected and has also been rumored to be air-borne. Intensive care centres are being established in many cities in the hopes to treat the infected. As there are little details being announced by the government or scientists, we can only urge our viewers to stay inside and stay safe and avoid the infected. We promise to bring you updates when possible."**_

_** The screen goes black as Kurt switches the tv off. "What?" I whispered. "What is happening?"**_

_**"This disease, it has come out of nowhere!" Kurt fretted. "We have to stay inside until a cure is found."**_

_**"Where's Sam and Artie?" I questioned.**_

_**"Well we heard about this earlier, Artie's parents rang to say something bad was happening in Ohio so Sam and Artie took the first bus they could home. It turns out that it was also the last bus out of the city. It's crazy out there, the city is shutting down. Stores are closing and police are on the streets shouting for people to go home but there's people out there demanding answers. We tried to find information from someone but nobody knows what's going on. I think they know more than they're telling the public. I rang my dad about two hours ago, he said things are really bad in some parts of Ohio but it hasn't hit Lima yet, he said that people are being evacuated from there homes and that streets are closed off and some people are being taken away from their families. They're terrified but I can't call them anymore. I've tried hundreds of times. I think their signal is down. So we decided we would come check on you guys, to see if you heard anything."**_

_**"We didn't hear anything," I frowned. Just then I remembered Quinn saying something about an epidemic. I walked over to the window, Kurt was right. The city was at the darkest I'd ever seen it. There was less lights and less noise except for a faint noise I could hear in the distance, it was the sound of angry screams and shouting. I knew instantly that something wasn't right. **_

_**"I think we should to stay inside until we're told otherwise."**_

_** The others nodded in agreement and I walked briskly to my room to retrieve my phone to see if I had recieved any form of contact from anyone back home, but there was nothing there. When I returned to the others, they were huddled over Kurt's phone which was on loudspeaker.**_

_**"Carol!" Kurt panicked. "I can't hear you! Can you please repeat that?"**_

_** "Inside! Dangerous! Biting! Monsters!" The crackled voice of Carol said from the other end,but her words made no sense. **_

_** "Carol?" I called out.**_

_**"Rachel!" She responded. I could just about make out her next few words."Your Dads, with us, love you all. Stay inside!"**_

_** We heard the phone hang up and we glanced at one another in confusion. Kurt tried to redial but it didn't work.**_

_**"What was she talking about?" I asked nervously. **_

_**"I don't know," Kurt whispered faintly. "I couldn't make it out. Her words, they didn't make sense! She sounded so scared."**_

_** I immediately tried dialing both of my dads' cell phones but I couldn't get through. **_

_**"Something's not right," Santana muttered, sounding more nervous than I had ever heard in my life. "I need to ring Dani and my parents." **_

_** She promptly left the room, leaving the rest of us in a state of shock and fear. Our hearts jumped simultaneously as there a pounding on the door a few seconds later.**_

_** "Rachel? Santana? Kurt?" A deep, recognisable voice called.**_

_** "Puck!" I exclaimed and jumped up to answer the door. He stood there looking confused and traumatized with two rucksacks on his back.**_

_** "Can I come in?" He asked as I opened the door and I nodded in response.**_

_** "Puck?" Kurt questioned in confusion. "What are you doing here in New York?"**_

_** "I was staying my grandmother for the weekend, she was sick," He said slowly. "But these men in white coats they came to her neighbourhood and started taking people away who were sick. Then they began to evacuate the entire street. Then I was watching the news in television so I rang Quinn back home, she says that things are really bad there and I couldn't go back so she sent told me your address and said that we have to stay inside until everything is okay again. It's crazy out there, the cops are all over the streets, they're questioning and examining people then putting them in ambulances. I had to run twenty blocks to get here so that they couldn't get to me. I guess this flu or whatever is really serious." **_

_** Kurt and Blaine gasped in unison as they heard of the situation with the police but I remained quiet, inside I felt a bit more relieved knowing that Quinn was okay but my head was confused by this whole, sudden and unexplained event.**_

_** "Where's Sam and Artie and Santana?" Puck asked. "Quinn said they were with you too."**_

_** "Santana is in her room but the others left earlier, they got the last bus home," Blaine replied. **_

_** "They're lucky. I would give anything to be home right now, it can't be all that bad when you're with your family," Kurt sighed.**_

We never found out if they made it back to Lima, we heard nothing from them or anyone else in Lima after that night. It turns out Ohio was infested with zombies by the next afternoon. The situation has been getting worse everyday across the country as the disease continues to spread but there are surely some other survivors. And although Ohio may be overcrowded with zombies, it's a risk the three boys seem to be willing to take in the hopes that we find our loved ones.

"No, no, no," Santana is sobbing.

"Santana!" Puck snaps. "Control yourself! We have all lost people!"

"Oh Puck don't say that! We don't know that for sure," Kurt begs. I once again, can't stop myself from rolling my eyes at his ridiculous optimism. We were once best friends, but his refusal to accept the bitter and cruel reality that lies before us, has been driving me away from him.

"It's okay Kurt," Blaine smiles brightly. "We'll find them."

I snort in disgust and turn my attention back to Santana, "No," she says. "Look over there!"

Suddenly Puck slams on the brake causing each of us to jolt forward and we can see what Santana is crying about. Ahead of us there are three cars blocking up the highway, with no possible way through, but that's the least of our worries. Emerging from behind, a group of five zombies are making their way over to us, slowly but surely, making their horrible growls as they advance. Their faces have rotted away and their genders are not identifiable, they must be older than the ones we saw in the city. They climb aggressively over the parked cars ready to prey on us.

"Damn it!" Puck shouts. "Grab you guns, now, we have to shoot them. Then we'll find a car on the other side and keep going."

"What?" I say with widened eyes.

"Just do it!" He orders and kicks his door open. He jumps out violently with his gun raised, Blaine copies him on the other side.

I look from Santana to Kurt unsure of what to do, I'm not ready to kill anyone, even if they are zombies.

"Come on!" Puck roars from outside, he has his gun pointed at the approaching zombies, he has told of his tactic of not shooting until the target is within a five to three metre distance. My legs turn to jelly as I make my way out of the jeep clutching onto my hand gun, unsure of what I'm supposed to do.

"Aim your guns," Puck orders each of us. I can see Santana shaking beside me, it's the five against five, there's one for each of us.

The first gunshot fires from Puck's pistol, the bullet flies through the zombies chest but the zombie doesn't react. I freeze in horror as the others make there way towards us.

"Aim at their heads!" Puck orders as he shoots again and the zombie falls to it's knees. The next shot comes from Blaine who's target continues to circle towards him.

"I'm sorry!" I hear Kurt squeal beside me as he shoots the grunting zombie in front of him. The zombie falls to the floor but continues to show signs of life. He shoots again and I finally come face to face with my target, now that I see her clearer it looks like she was a woman, perhaps middle aged, a mom maybe? She stares at me with bloodshot eyes like a piece of food, she doesn't even blink. Then the zombie bears her black teeth at me and I can't help but wrap my finger around the trigger, but I can't bring myself to pull it. She draws closer, her arm outstretched.

"Rachel!" Santana shouts suddenly causing my finger to jerk and fire, the bang is so unexpected that I jump as cold, black blood splatters all over my face. I've shot her in the head.

"Shoot her again!" Puck tells me and I obey, the second shot is easier and t]the zombie falls to the ground, lifeless.

"Help!" A cry comes from my right. Santana still hasn't shot her gun yet, I turn to help her as the zombie is literally inches away from biting her.

"Santana!" I scream and I shoot the zombie in the temple, and then again, it falls to the floor landing at Santana's feet. I let out a deep sigh of relief and guilt, I've killed two people. I never thought I could fire a gun because it was against my morals, but just now, it dawned on me that maybe morality is not an option anymore.

She looks at me with tear filled eyes. "I'm sorry, I just, I just couldn't bring myself to do it."

"Let's go!" Puck orders , throwing us our bags from the jeep. Then he starts to make a away around the three cars blocking the path and we obediently follow, copying his moves. Just as we make our way past, I take one final look at the five fallen bodies lying in pools of black blood in front of the red jeep. I wonder if they even felt the bullet that ended their lives.

Puck makes his way towards a smaller black car which appears to be the only the car in reach.

He looks in the window and frowns. "It's out of gas, we're going to have to walk, there's a gas station just off the next exit down there. We're going to have to try get some shelter in there for the night."

"But it's getting dark," Kurt points out and I notice the navy sky. "You said it's not safe to be outside when it's dark."

"Then we better move quickly."


	4. Chapter 4

**A/n:**** Thank you so much for all the feedback, it's much appreciated. Updates may take some time as I am really busy with exams and schoolwork. Just a heads up, there is a mention of suicide in this chapter.**

The starless, evening sky continues to darken as we follow Puck down the ghost roads. The eery wind blows through our hair and the three faces around me are filled with fear. Puck has his shot gun raised, ready to tackle whatever comes his way.

I notice Santana reducing her pace as she begins to lag behind, I fall back behind so I can talk to her. Her head is bowed and she has her arm which holds her gun dropped to her side.

"I knew you guys should have left me back at the apartment," She whispers. "I can't even kill a zombie Rachel, I'm not able to survive in this world."

"Santana, I'm not letting you leave this world," I tell her. "You mean to much to me. I'm sorry about Dani and I know how much you're hurting but she wouldn't want you to give up because of her."

"Rachel I have to confess something. I know you think I'm crying over Dani and I am, but honestly what's getting me most is Brittany."

"Brittany?" I gasp.

She nods. "I am upset about Dani but at least I know what has happened to her, she's turned if not dead, and knowing that hurts me but not knowing what has happened to Brittany hurts me even more. She's so sweet and innocent, she can't handle this world alone. I can't stand the thoughts of what has happened to Brittany because I love her Rachel."

My eyes widen. "Brittany? But you broke up. You said you loved Dani!"

"I did, I mean I do, it's just Brittany, she's everything to me," She whispers sincerely.

"But you broke up, you told me it was just a fling," I point out.

"I know, I lied, we realised we were just too busy to commit to a relationship, me being here and her in MIT," she whispers in shame and regret. "I don't want to sound disrespectful to Dani but only four weeks ago when this whole mess started , I realised how I really felt about reason that I'd tried to take my life, and I know how selfish and greedy I sound, is because I couldn't bear thinking about a world where both of them were dead."

_**We had been trapped in our apartment three days, we had furniture against the doors and windows shut and covered. Everything in the city below was turning into a nightmare. There were horrific screams to be heard as zombies had begun to invade the streets below**_

_** We sat together in a panicked, trembling sweat on the floor beneath the sofa. None of us could wrap our heads around the rapid growing disaster. Suddenly Santana's phone began to vibrate. "It's Dani!" She shouted excitedly and answered it, she turned the phone onto loudspeaker so we could all hear.**_

_** "Dani! Are you ok?" She called out.**_

_** "Santana," Dani's panicked tone replied. "Santana, there's loads of them, they've come to the house, there's no way out. I can hear my neighbours Santana, they're screaming, they're calling for help. I'm going to be bitten because I can't escape." She pauses and we can hear her cry at the end of the other line. "Please be safe, stay inside. I love you!"**_

_** "Dani!" Santana shouted, her face fixed in a puzzled expression. A beep indicated that Dani had hung up. "Dani!" Santana screeched. "No!" **_

_** She picked up the phone and punched in Dani's number but it just rang out. Dani did not pick up. The rest of us stared at each other in confusion. "No, no, no, no," she shouted before she started cursing loudly. She grabbed her phone and stormed away to her room, holding the phone to her ear as she did so.**_

_** She slammed her bedroom door but we could hear her anyway. "Pick up! Goddamnit! No!"**_

_** I slowly picked myself off the floor but I was pulled back by a crying Kurt. "Give her some space," he whispered. I frowned and repositioned myself on the floor and waited for Santana to emerge from her room.**_

_** Half an hour passed and I couldn't take the silence that was coming from behind the door. I got up and marched over to Santana's door, opening it with a shove. "Santana!" I screamed at the sight.**_

_** "No please!" She begged. "Go away!"**_

_**"Help!" I called out to the boys as I fell to my knees beside the shaking Santana who was surrounded by ten open boxes of medication. **_

_**"Just let me die!" She cried into my shoulder.**_

Fortunately, she hadn't swallowed an pills but if I had sat by idly any longer, she'd probably be dead. She tried two more times in the following days, she tried taking pills again the second time less than a week later before Blaine stopped her and then she tried to hang herself. Those days were honestly the most frightening, even though there were people turning into flesh eating zombies below us.

"So it was Brittany you had been trying to call," I mumble and she nods. "I guess we just got to hope that we'll find them. But I haven't much an optimist lately."

"We have Kurt and Blaine for optimism," She mutters. "Maybe they're together, Quinn and Brittany."

"Ssh!" I hiss, eyeing towards Puck. She frowns.

"He can't hear you, he's in full military mode. You''re going to have to tell him eventually," She says.

"I know, and I'm hoping Quinn will be there when I have to, maybe he'll understand if she's there too," I reply. "I don't want him to freak out before we even get to Lima."

"Look it's over there!" Kurt exclaims and points toward a run down gas station. The pumps are smashed and the windows are blacked out from the inside. Cars have been abandoned around it.

"Raise your guns!" Puck shouts from ahead, "We're not going to get there that easy."

On the road below, circling the entrance to the gas station there's at least ten of them. They look confused and dazed but that doesn't mean they won't attack us. I wonder how long they've been there. Maybe they're the owners of those cars, maybe they were trying to find an escape too or someway to cintinue with life, maybe we'll get the same end eventually. What if there is no way forward?

"Rachel! Rachel!" Kurt snaps. A gunshot snaps me out of it and a zombie falls dead. Puck has run ahead of us, already beginning to take down zombies, he's shouting at us for back up.

I turn to Santana who frowns at me again. Suddenly there are gunshots all around us, the boys are firing.

"We can do this!" I decide. "We're only helping them by killing them. We're putting them out of their misery."

She nods unsure and follows behind me. I slowly raise my gun to an advancing zombie and pull the trigger, he falls merclessly with one shot to the head but I hit him again for luck.

"Rachel!" Santana calls a few metres behind, as a smaller, hobbling zombie approaches her.

"Just shoot!" I shout, a small zombie that may have possibly been a child is coming my way. She's wearing a plaid dress but looks like something from a horror movie with her bared, bloody teeth, I have no time to help Santana now.

I fire my gun without thinking and the small creature falls to the ground, covering it with black blood. I turn around to face Santana, her hand is shaking. I won't be able to reach her in time.

"Just do it!" I shout, I watch her inhale as she pulls the trigger and with one shot, the bullet soars through the zombie's head. The skill surprises me. I can hear her sigh in relief.

"I did it," she whispers, and I half smile at her to congratulate her, as if killing is something to be celebrated. I take one last glance at the small zombie beneath my feet. She was once someone's little girl, from her height she could not have been older than ten or eleven. I just have to convince myself that she will be better off dead.

"Santana! Behind you!" Blaine shouts, and before I can react Santana turns on her heels and instantly shoots it three times in the face. There is a l fierceness in her eyes that can't be ignored. As the zombie falls, she looks at her gun, as if she has just realized something. I raise an eyebrow as our glances meet and she frowns in some sort of confusion. She is better at killing than any of us expected.

We drop our weapons to our side, now surrounded by a circle of ten zombies. There blood begins to flood the road.

"Come on!" Puck orders and marches toward the gas station. He reaches the once-red door of the gas station and pulls it but it doesn't budge out of place.

"It's barricaded from the inside," He mutters. "We have to get inside before more zombies come! They'll have heard the gunshots! There's people inside, I can see their shadows through gaps in the windows."

"Hey! Let us in, please!" He shouts, banging on the blacked out windows. "Please!"

We close in towards him, I can my chest filling with fear. The night is getting darker, soon we won't be able to see.

"Ssh!" A voice hisses angrily from above, we look up to see a pair of grey eyes staring down at us from a small window high above us. "Go away! We have nothing here for you! You will endanger us all!"

"Please! Let us in!" I beg. "We just need somewhere for the night!"

"Leave now before the zombies come, we can't help you!" The voice hisses back.

"Wait!" A soft voice calls from within. "I know them!"

Santana turns to me with a questioning face, but I'm not sure what's she thinking or asking me. We can hear mumbling from inside the window until the voice replies to us. "Come around the side, there is a ladder, climb up in through the high window, but push the ladder back on to the floor when you're inside and close the window."

I sigh with relief as we quickly rush to the side of the building, a tall, heavy wooden ladder is lying on the ground. Blaine and Puck grab it and mount it against the wall. Above it, a window is pushed open from the inside.

"Rachel! Go!" Puck orders sternly. "Quickly!"

I don't think but do, suddenly I'm at the top of the ladder reaching in the window. I grab onto the window sill and pull myself inside.

"Jump!" Somebody shouts at me and I obey, jumping at least three feet to reach the floor. The room is too dark to make anything out but I can see two dark figures across the room.

"Rachel?" Santana calls from the window.

"Just jump Santana, I'm here!" I call back and she lands beside me within seconds. She is joined by Kurt, then Blaine and finally Puck.

"Did you push the ladder back on to the ground? And shut the window?" The voice asks, and suddenly a middle-aged dark-haired man appears before us stepping into the small lit corner of the room, his grey eyes glowing.

"Yes," Puck replies.

"You folks are mighty stupid!" He says in a heavy, Southern accent. "Gunshots are like invitations to those creatures! There'll be swarms of them outside in minutes!"

"And you were going to leave us out there?" I protest.

"It's a fight for survival now darling, and you ain't going to get far if y'all keep firing bullets. I wasn't going to let you folks endanger our group, the only reason we let you in is because young Danielle here says she knows you. You can stay one night and that's it!"

"Danielle?" I ask in a faint whisper, Santana has suddenly gripped tightly on to my wrist so tight that it hurts.

The second figure steps up behind him. With tired eyes and faint blue hair, she is barely recognisable. Her sad, ashamed eyes meet mine but she doesn't say a word. There are three gasps of realisation around me.

"Dani!" Santana shrieks as she releases her grip on me and collapses on to the floor.


	5. Chapter 5

**Author's Note: Once again, thank you so much for all your feedback. Just a note before you read on, I hope nobody finds any of my writings in this chapter or in any chapter to follow, blasphemic, homophobic, stereotypical or discriminative in any way. I'm really sorry if I offend anyone, I swear I have not intended to do so.**

* * *

I crouch down to help Santana who is out cold on the floor, I expect Dani to run to her aid but she remains put. "Santana," I call in her ear but she doesn't move.

"What's wrong with her? Is she sick?" The man asks suspiciously, glaring at Santana.

"No!" I protest. "She's just-"

"Reverend, they have travelled all the way from New York, they must be exhausted, can I show them to them the spare room?" Dani asks, cutting me off. A reverend? He surely doesn't seem like a friendly one.

"Wait now, Danielle, you know these folks?"

"Yes sir, they were friends of mine from New York, I worked with Rachel, Santana and Kurt," she answers quietly. All traces of her friendly and bright personality have vanished. She doesn't even make eye contact with us.

"And the other two?" He questions. Dani turns to face us and make out who is standing behind me. "Blaine is Kurt's roommate." She answers, I watch Kurt open his mouth to protest but she opens her eyes wide in fear as if to tell him to stop, he takes the hint and closes his mouth again. "And I don't know the other man."

"Noah Puckerman, United States Air Force," Puck announces officially.

"Air force eh?" The reverend asks. "I was once a recruit myself."

"It's a pleasure to make your acquaintance then Sir," Puck replies, extending a hand.

"Hold on now," The reverend declares. "I want to make a deal with you folks. In exchange for a safe night and use of our facilities, I want some sort of weapon to defend my group."

"Deal," Puck nods and pulls out a hand gun and a box of ammo from his rucksack. The reverend takes it and examines it closely before he looks back at Puck."Very well, y'all can follow me. Carry your friend too."

"Kurt, Blaine?" Dani whispers. "Can you carry her?"

The boys crouch down beside me and gently lift up Santana, she doesn't even stir.

"Dani," I whisper in a questioning voice to my old co-worker.

"Later," she replies under her breath so only I can hear. "Just follow me and don't say anything."

"Danielle you can show these folks to the spare room," The reverend orders her. "Then they come and meet the rest."

Dani nods and the reverend leads us down a small, narrow flight of wooden stairs which creak as we descend. Dani keeps her head lowered, she does not seem to be remotely happy about our presence, it's as though we have intruded on something. Why is she not telling this reverend the whole truth?

The reverend pushes a door open at the bottom of the stairs, inside are stacks of empty boxes and shelving units, it seems to me as if somebody has emptied a store room.

"Y'all can sleep in there for the night," He announces. "I'll introduce you to the rest of our folks now."

"Kurt, Blaine, you can put Santana in here," Dani states as she steps passed the reverend into the store room. The boys follow her, carrying Santana. I watch as Dani pulls out a blanket from a shelf and lays it neatly on the floor. The boys lower Santana on to it.

"Kurt, can you stay with her?" She asks, but it sounds as though she is begging him. He nods, with a puzzled frown. As Dani leads Blaine back out of the room.

"Come on," The reverend urges as he unlocks open a bigger, blue door to our right. "The others will want to know what strangers I've brought in."

He pushes the door open to reveal the dark, store part of the station. The place, although dark, seems to be quite untidy. Shelving units and display tables have been pushed up against the thick-glass automatic doors, which have been covered in black paint as well as the windows around the room. Any shelving units that remain on the floor have been cleared of their supplies.

Directly across from us, a group of three people are huddled together, surrounded by bags and boxes of supplies, with a small torch as a light source.

"Jackson!" A woman calls in a similar accent to the reverend. "Danielle! Are they your friends?"

"Yes Maggie," Dani replies as she follows the reverend over towards the group. "They're some of my co-workers from the restaraunt in New York."

"They're just staying for tonight Maggie, don't you worry," The reverend calls out. "They gave us a gun in return for a safe night here."

A small, blond haired lady stands up and walks towards us cautiously. She looks at us through narrowed eyes as if inspecting us. I can't help but notice the rather large gold cross hanging around her neck.

Dani clears her throat. "This is Rachel, Blaine and Noah," she tells her before turning to us. "This is Maggie, she is Reverend Jones's wife."

"Goodness, they're only children Jackson. God bless you dears, after making such a tyrannous journey," she smiles sweetly. "No wonder they were shooting, I'm sure they didn't know what else to do. I'm sure they're good people Jackson, after all if they weren't God would not have saved them."

I throw a glance at Blaine. I begin to realise why Dani has been keeping quiet.

"You come meet the rest of our group," she says with a smile and leads us over to the other two people sitting in the corner, a red haired woman and a blond haired young man, they both look very solemn. "This is Francis and James, they're part of our church group in Louisiana." They nod at us but don't say a word.

"How did you end up here?" I enquire.

"Well we were in the city for a seminar, we decided to leave the city as quick as we could and on our way out, we heard someone screaming from inside a house. Jackson and James ran in and they found Danielle here just in time."

I glance over at Dani who suppresses a small smile. "We couldn't possibly leave her behind, to face that chaotic city by herself. A pretty, innocent young girl like her."

These people really don't know Dani from the sound of things.

"We escaped to this place and we've been here ever since, since we had nothing to defend ourselves with, so we've just been waiting and praying," Maggie continues before pausing to look at us. "Now I was sure there was more of you when we saw you through the windows."

"There are, our friend Santana fainted, so our friend Kurt is watching her," Blaine says putting emphasis on the word friend.

"Oh my! Well, let me get you some food!" Maggie says. "Y'all must be starving. And of course, you can use our bathroom facilities, though we don;t have much, just a ladies' room and a gent's, but it's something."

"Maggie," Jackson grumbles.

"Oh come on now Jack, they've come a long way and I'm sure they've had a traumatic experience.

"It's a tough world out there now, but don't you worry kids, it's all part of God's plan, he's punishing us for destroying his perfect world. He's wiping out all the evil, but in the meantime he's making us suffer because we condoned all this evil."

"Evil?" Blaine raises an eyebrow. "What kind of evil?"

"All those sinners who have deserted their God and defied the bible!" She says bitterly. "Athiests, adulterers, murderers, the homosexuals. They're all equally responsible."

I can feel Blaine and Dani freeze up behind me. I'm no longer comfortable here, I finally understand what Dani has been so scared and silent about.

"But look at you strapping young people, maybe you're the blessing we've been waiting for, if we travel together we're sure to be safe!" She exclaims, changing her tone back to a sweet, happy one, but nobody backs her up or responds.

"Well we must get some sleep if we're going to keep going in the morning," Puck clears his throat breaking the awareness that would otherwise become suspicious.

"Just wait now, I'll give y'all some cans of food, I'm afraid we can't offer much but here you go," She says shoving a box of five cans of tin fruit into my arms. "Y'all use as much water as you need but don't make too much noise, okay?"

"Yes Ma'am," Puck nods politely as we start to edge towards the door "Thank you very much, all of you."

"Now I'd love to meet the rest of your friends, make sure they're okay," She announces.

"I can check on them," Dani offers.

"Of course, they're probably exhausted, I'll see them in the morning,. " Maggie smiles.

"Maybe I should stay in there with them for the night?" She asks but Maggie frowns, unsure.

"Well dear, it might be very tight," She says.

"We don't mind, our other friends would love to talk to her," Blaine insists.

"Alright then, we'll talk to y'all in the morning," She smiles. Dani forcefully pushes open the door behind us and briskly walks out, we follow behind and I close the door behind me. Dani raises a finger to her lips to indicate us to stay quiet until we have reached our room. She allows the boys to enter the room first and pulls me aside before we go in. She grips onto me as if she doesn't want to lye go.

"Rachel," She sighs and hugs me tightly. "You have no idea how glad I am to see you guys." When I come to face her again, her eyes have filled with tears.

"Dani," I smile. "I'm so glad you're alive. But-"

"I'll explain everything inside, I'm sorry about before, you saw what these people are like, I couldn't have them throw you out," She says.

"So that's why you told Kurt to stay with Santana?" I ask with a small smile which she returns.

"I'm sorry, I just thought it would be safer for all of us, they may seem sweet but I have never met more judgemental people in my life," She confesses. "but Rachel, talk to me about Santana, is she okay? She fainted at the first sight of me?"

"I guess for her it was like seeing a ghost, it was like that for all of us, we thought you were dead," I admit.

"How has she been coping?" She asks.

"Not great, it's like she's a different person," I answer, but how do I tell her that it's because of Brittany? It has just occurred to me, as horrible as it is for me to admit, that Dani's survival could make everything worse.

"I was so scared I'd never see her again," Dani sniffs, a tear running down her cheek. "I love her so much."

"Come on, we better go inside," I suggest awkwardly.

"Yes we can talk in there if we are quiet," she agrees. We enter the small room and Dani quietly closes the door behind us.

The others are huddled around a sitting Santana on the other side of the room. Her face is pale and weak and her eyes are widened in a state of shock.

"Dani," she breathes.

"Santana!" Dani cries as we make our way across the room. Santana looks up at us in confusion and disbelief.

"you're alive," she stammers, "but how? On the phone, you said,"

"I was rescued by these people!" Dani explains as she kneels down beside her. "I wanted to come and find you guys, I swear but I had no way of defending myself, and these people, they wanted me to come with them. I'm so sorry Santana."

"No," Santana shakes her head, a silent teardrop rolls down her pale cheek, she reaches a delicate hand out to touch Dani's face."Please don't apologise, you didnt do anything, I just can't believe you're still here."

"Me either," Dani sobs as she plants a sweet kiss on her girlfriends forehead. "I was scared I'd never see you again. I missed you so much."

I watch in awe as the two crying girlfriends embrace. To my left Blaine and Kurt are gently sobbing too. My heart fills with a warmth whichI haven't felt since the last timeI saw Quinn. I am so glad we found Dani, but I'm nervous about how Santana feels about it deep down.

"Ok, " Puck coughs awkwardly. " we need to get ready for the long days that are ahead of us. Here's some food and the restrooms are just outside the door. We all need to reenergise ourselves."

"I need to use the mens room," Blaine says, still emotional from the reunion.

"I'll come with you," kurt beams.

"You can't," Blaine frowns.

"Why not?" Kurt demands.

"Because if any of them catch you, they will either shoot you or throw you outside," dani mumbles.

"She's right, they're really religious and discriminative," Blaine says bitterly.

"You've been living with these people?" Santana asks.

"they don't know I'm gay," Dani whispers. "It's been a nightmare, they are the most bitter people I've ever met, even worse than my parents. I didn't realise until we got out of the city but then it was too late to leave, they were my only source of aid and food, and I had hurt my ankle when we were escaping my house, I couldn't move very far. I've had to pray with them everyday and listen them complain and curse about homosexuality. They're scary people."

"that's disgusting," I exclaim. "The worlds dying and people are acting like this."

"I know," she sighs as Santana nods in agreement.

"well you're coming with us, to Lima," Kurt decides and I nod.

"Lima?" She asks. " but that was one of the worst hit places. Isn't it supposed to be safer up North?"

"to find our friends and families," Blaine explains.

"or try to anyway," I sigh. "Then we're heading north."

"I don't care," she shrugs with a smile. "I'll follow you guys wherever, I just want to stay with my girl."

Santana grabs her hand and kisses her softly. "I love you," Dani whispers, stroking Santana's messy hair.

"I love you too," Santana mumbles and her eyes lock onto mine. Her body language expresses the words but her fearful and unsure eyes are not so convincing.


	6. Chapter 6

We sit around in a circle as Puck divides out the food between us, we have our own food, but Puck decided we should show our appreciation by eating the food they gave us, I don't know what sort of gas station sells canned peaches but it's better than nothing.

Dani has not left Santana's side once, they sit close together, Santana has her head rested on Dani's shoulders, as Dani strokes her hair and whispers into her ear. The smile on Santana's face is unmissable and it makes me feel a bit more happy inside, maybe things will work out between the two of them. Now that Santana has found Dani, I feel even more determined to find Quinn.

"So have you guys heard from anybody in Lima?" Dani asks.

"No, their phones all died within in the first two days of the mass breakout," I reply. "But they were safe."

"So what happened to everybody else in your apartment block?"

"They just left, people were running, they said they needed to leave the city, we told them it was safer to stay inside but nobody would listen," Blaine explains. "Suddenly, we were the only ones left so we barricaded the building to keep anything from getting in. Puck, Kurt and I went out through windows of other apartments to look for food or other survivors."

"But you didn't find any other people," Dani sighs sadly,

"No, but we couldn't go far," Blaine replies. " I mean there has to be other survivors. Not only in New York but all over America, it's this lack of communication, that's what's preventing us from knowing."

"But this theory, that we should go North? Puck said and now Dani's group has said it, maybe it's like a basic instinct," I point out. " Maybe we're not the only ones, maybe that's where we can find people."

"That's true," Puck says. "But we have already agreed that we'll go to Lima first, then we will go north. Come on, eat up and then use the restrooms, we need to get sleep."

"I need to use the ladies room," Dani whispers, and Santana's face falls slightly. "Santana,Will you be ok?"

"She'll be fine," I answer. "I'll take care of her."

"Thanks Rachel," Dani smiles as she leaves the room. My eyes meet those of Santana's.

"So?" I whisper quietly so that the boys cannot overhear.

"I never thought this would happen," She breathes, as she grabs her hair tensely. "I was sure she was dead. I had given up hope for her. I had forgotten how much I loved her.""

"And now? What happens? What happens with Brittany?"

"I don't know!" She cries then bites down on her lip anxiously. "God, I love Brittany so much! But now Dani, she's here and I can't lose her again but I still need to find am I going to do Rachel?"

"I don't know if this helps but I've always gone with what my heart tells me," I sigh. She groans quietly and buries her head in her knees.

"I guess we'll let the road ahead of us decide," I frown. We sit in a tired silence in the cold yet confined space. Dani re-enters the room and a smile re-appears on Santana's face.

"You ok babe?" Dani asks as she places herself to the left on Santana.

"I'm better," Santana smiles as she cups her girlfriend's face in her palm and kisses her. I watch as Dani kisses her back, but it's no ordinary is, it's a deep, loving but fearful kiss that spreads energy through both of their faces like magic. It's almost as if they both fear that this kiss could be their last so they have to make it unforgettable.

I didn't even get to share one of those kisses with Quinn.

I turn on to my side to try to sleep as Dani and Santana continue to kiss and hold each other. Across from me, Kurt and Blaine are holding each other as they sleep and to their right, lying on his back, staring at the ceiling, thinking. By his side is a gun and it scares me because I know what he's thinking about because I'm thinking about her too. And I'm afraid that she'll have to pick one of us, and if she picks me, I can't imagine Puck coping very well. Sometimes i think it might be better and safer for her if she picked Puck, but I would give anything to just hold her once more, and to share one last, powerful kiss with her and to run my fingers through her flawless blonde hair as her gleaming hazel eyes stare into mine.

I never thought I could feel this way about another girl but it just sort of happened. Quinn was always there, but we only came to realize how we felt a little over two months ago. I had always pictured spending my life with Finn, and maybe I would have if he was still here, but now that Quinn is so far apart in this time of fear and distress, I wish I had accepted my feelings for her a long time ago. She's the best thing that has hapened to me since I lost Finn, and although I feel guilty sometimes for finding love again, Quinn was sometimes the only thing that motivated to get out of bed in the morning.

As I picture her pretty face, I can sense her hear beside and I feel safe and warm and I feel secure enough to close my eyes and drift to sleep.

_"Rachel! Wake up!" An excited voice shouts in my ear and I rub my eyes so I can see what's going on. The room is bright but urt and i are the only people in it._

_ "Kurt?" I groan. "Why are you shouting?"_

_ "Wake up sweetheart! Look who's here!" He squeals and pulls me by the hand to the open door across the room and out through the store. _

_"Come on!" He is pulling me so forcefully that I can't help but laugh._

_"Kurt!" I giggle. " Slow down! What are we doing?"_

_ And suddenly we are outside, the sky is a cool, bright blue above our heads and the sun is shining down gracefully upon us in the gas station parking lot. There is not a zombie or stray car to be seen. The others are standing there waiting with grins on their faces, as if they've been waiting for my arrival._

_ "Look! Over there!" Kurt points excitedly at someone just across the lot. And there she is, her long blonde hair sitting perfectly on her shoulders and her bright white smile lighting up her face._

_ "Quinn," I whisper but there is an echo from behind me, Puck is standing over my shoulder, calling for her too. He exchanges a confused look with me as he slowly walks towards Quinn and stands behind her._

_ "Quinn," I repeat but she raises a perfect eyebrow at me and frowns. From behind, Puck squeezes her shoulder defensively._

_ "Can I help you?" She hisses in a cold, bitter voice as she wraps her hands around Puck's manly arm and it hits me like a hard punch in the stomach._

_ "What is her problem?" Puck asks in a puzzled tone._

_ "What about us?" I whisper._

_ "Us?" She rolls her head back in laughter. "Why would I want you? I have Puck, he actually loves me!" She presses herself against him and kisses him forcefully, running her hands through his hair._

_ "But Quinn! I do love you!" I shout. "I swear! I love you!" But she doesn't even turn her head._

_ The sky above our heads has suddenly changed, grey clouds begin to circle around our heads and cries of thunder sound from the distance and a downpour of cold and heavy rain falls over us and the scene is blurry._

_ "Shoot them Rachel!" A voice screams from across the paring lot. "You have to shoot them!"_

_ Out of nowhere, a hoard of zombies advances on me with their angry, blood stained teeth bared and their fingers aiming for my throat. In my hands is my gun and it is pointed towards them as they begin to close in on me._

_ "Shoot Rachel!" Blaine shouts angrily at me. "Just shoot her!" _

_I__n that moment, __I have come face to face with a zombie who's flesh has been torn away from her face and her blonde hair turned black from splatters of blood. She breathes rough and heavily with an outstretched hand targeting my throat. She wants me, but not in the way I want her to. My heart is hardening inside my chest, I can't look at her like this. She has become a monster who no moral instincts. She doesn't even seem to recognize me, all she wants is my flesh. Everything she was is dead and gone._

_ "Quinn please!" I cry, "Don't , you're not a monster. Quinn stop!"_

_ "RACHEL!" Blaine roars. "Shoot her! Now!" _

_ I try to steady my hands as I point the gun, but I can't do it. I can't kill her, even if she is a monster, a life without her is incomplete anyway. I let the gun fall from my hands, and it hits the cold, wet ground as her teeth lunge for my throat and sink in. I scream out in pain._

"Rachel! Rachel! Wake up!" A concerned voice is shouting in my ear. "Rachel, it's okay! Stop screaming! Please, just stop screaming."

A warm hand is suddenly clamped over my mouth and I bat my eyelids open to see what's going on. Kurt and Blaine are kneeling over me, with petrified expressions painted on their faces.

"Is she finished?" A grumpy voice groans beside me, I realize that it came from Santana, her grumpy morning attitude has suddenly reappeared. I have to turn on my side to look at her to believe that it's true, Dani and Santana are cuddling on the floor beside me, trying to adjust their eyes to the morning light. "Thanks for being an alarm clock Rachel," Santana moans. The reappearance of Santana's narky attitude may mean that the old Santana is coming back to us.

"Rachel, are you ok?" Blaine asks in a concerned tone. I nod as I look around the room, to assure myself that everything is okay, that I am still alive and uninjured and everyone else is too.

"Yeah," I mumble. "It was just a bad dream."

"Ok then," Puck announces. "Let's get ready to leave, I want to get on the road as soon as possible." Kurt and Blaine leave me and return to their belongings. I sit up slowly and turn to Dani and Santana beside me, who are smiling happily at each other with hands clasped.

"Did you two sleep ok?" I question.

"Never better," Dani smiles and turns to kiss her girlfriend. They have just begun to make out when the door is unexpectedly kicked open.

"Homosexuals!" A shrill voice cries, I whip my head around to see The reverend and his wife staring at us in horror and disgust. Behind them James and Francis are holding kitchen knives, their faces show expressions of utter outrage from the sight of the two girlfriends kissing.

"Is this why we heard someone scream? Danielle, did this girl attack you?" The reverend demands, pointing an accusing finger towards Santana.

"No!" Dani protests. "This is my girlfriend!"

"Demons!" Maggie hisses. "Francis get the gun! Danielle how could you? After all we've done for you! And then you turn to your evil ways and make out with some tramp! I should have known by that blue hair! And I bet those two boys, they're gay too! Danielle we should have never saved your life! You were damned from the start!"

"Hey!" Santana snaps, making her way across the floor. "Don't talk to her like that, you religious freaks!"

"We should just kill them now!" James proclaims as he violently grabs Santana by the collar and throws her against the wall which she hits with a sudden bang to the head. I cry out in horror while she slides to the floor holding her forehead, I step forward to help her but James grabs her again, this time he locks his arm around her throat and raises his knife to her face.

"Let her go!" Dani cries.

"What do you say Rev? Should we kill her now and save our souls before we are damned for association?" James asks with a dangerous smirk.

"Hold on now!" Puck warns, raising his shotgun. "I don't want anybody to get hurt. You let her go now!"

The room freezes because of the tension. Santana is wincing in pain but cannot move without getting cut by the gleaming knife.

The reverend glares at Santana before looking back to Puck. "Fine, we'll give you this sinner back but then you have to get the hell out of here!"

"Deal," Puck says. "Now let her go."

James loosens his grip to let Santana free but just before he does he cuts her along her cheek with his knife.

"Son of a bitch!" Santana shouts.

"You're not going to survive out there!" James spits. "This infection happened to wipe out the likes of you! i hope you die an excruciating and slow death like you're supposed to!" He kicks Santana to Dani's feet.

"Come on," Puck orders us. "Grab your things, we're leaving."

We each grab our belongings from the floor while the four look down on us with an unforgiving bitterness burning in their eyes like flames. I move over to Dani who is trying to support Santana as they walk. I place Santana's arm around my shoulder so that she is balanced by the both of us. Puck signals for us to leave through the door.

"I'll show them out," James decides, grabbing the hand gun from Francis. I look up at Puck in fear but he gives me his "I got this" look. As we leave, I look at the reverend's wife with a hard glare. "You know, if you want to survive, one of these days you're going to have to depend on someone you don't like and if you can't you'll die. You don't have a choice, you can't discriminate anymore, not if you want to live!"

She opens her mouth to react but I leave hastily. We reach the stair case and Dani offers to carry Santana herself up the narrow flight so I lead the way. Behind Puck, James is growling with his hand gun raised. He may try to shoot us but I don't think he can beat Puck in a fight.

As we reach the room we entered the building through, Blaine steps ahead of me. "Let me go to the window, I'll pull up the ladder and let you know if there's any zombies."

"Blaine, are you sure?" Kurt whispers. " That's a long jump, you could hurt yourself." Blaine nods, holding up his gun. There is a wooden chair across the room which he pulls over so that he can climb out of the window.

"There's nothing out here," He calls from the window. "I see the ladder, give me a minute to hoist it up."

We watch him jump out and Kurt crosses his finger in hope.

"Okay!" Blaine calls. "I'm getting the ladder up."

"I presume you're going North but if y'all cross our path again, you might not be so lucky," James threatens.

"I doubt we'll cross paths, we're going to Ohio," Puck replies.

James laughs in surprise. "Ohio! Ha! Y'all are idiots! That place was shut down before any of the other states, there's nothing left there except zombies but I suppose you belong there. I hope you all rot in hell!"

"Kurt,Dani, Santana," Blaine calls from outside. "Come on!"

Kurt nervously mounts the window sill before climbing down the ladder outside. Santana is next to climb on to the chair.

"Santana," I say, I don't now how much she has recovered from the assault.

"I'll be fine," She assures me as she pulls herself up to the window.

"I'm right behind you," Dani tells her.

Santana begins her way down the ladder as Dani climbs anxiously to the window. Puck and I stay standing to make sure James doesn't shoot.

"Danielle, I hope you rot in hell, all the charity we gave you! You ungrateful wretch!" James shouts as Dani disappears through the window.

"Rachel," Puck announces my turn by pointing to the window. I nod and proceed to the chair. I climb on top so I can pull myself to the open window. The ladder is there waiting for me and down below, the others are looking up anxiously at me. They all seem to be safe and no zombies appear to be in the vicinity. I slowly begin to descend the ladder. At the bottom, my shoulders are met with the warm, welcoming touch of Dani's hands.

"I'm sorry about them," Dani frowns. "Santana, I'm so sorry, it's all my fault, you got put in danger."

"it's ok, we've escaped them now," Santana says, a scab has formed on her cheek where she was cut but other than that she seems to be okay.

"Wait, Puck," I state. "Is he coming?" We look up at the open window but Puck is not there.

"Puck!" I shout in panic. The response comes in the form of gunshot.

"Oh my god!" I cry, clasping a hand over my mouth.

"Shit!" Dani curses with horror filled eyes.

"Run! " A voice shouts at us from above.

"Puck!" I exclaim, he is quickly scaling down the ladder.

"Run!" He orders again. "We have to leave now!"

He reaches the bottom of the ladder and hastily proceeds to running, urging us to follow him.

"Did you kill him?" I pant.

"No, I shot him in the leg," He answers tonelessly as we rush across the parking lot. "Look that black jeep over there, if it has enough gas I can wire it."

We run for the targeted car, the doors are locked but Puck breaks the glass of the driver's window and unlocks the doors without an alarm going off. He proceeds to wiring it and the engine whirls and it starts up. "Okay! There's enough gas, looks lie it had just filled up. Let's go!"

We jump into the vehicle without haste, Santana sitting on Dani's lap as Puck presses down on the accelerator. He swerves the jeep around the other abandoned cars and we are out of there.

Dani sighs in relief. "Thank you guys for saving me."

"Nothing's over yet," Puck states. "We have a long road ahead of us, we don't know who we're going to meet or what's going to happen along the way, but what ever happens we are not giving up until we have reached Lima."

* * *

_**Author's Note: Hi there, thanks for reading this chapter of Everything Dies. I just want to add a personal note to this chapter in case anybody has been offended. I have nothing against the church. I am a Christian and I believe strongly in gay rights. I'm just trying to make a point here. I'm straight but that doesn't mean I can't ship two girls. Personally, I see absolutely no difference between a gay couple and a straight couple. Shipping two girls is the same as shipping two boys or shipping a boy and a girl fro me, I just like to think of what personalities suit each other. **_

_**Love is something that everybody is equally entitled too. All love is equal, so why should some people be treated less equally because they love one person over another? It disgusts me that gays are still fighting for rights in so many countries, in this day and age. And in some countries, loving someone of the same sex , results in a life sentence in jail. It's sick. Nobody is better than anybody else, everybody on this planet is the same. And I'm not saying that the church aere the only people who are homophobic, they just happened to be my example in this story. Most people in my church are for gay marriage and don't see it as a big deal.**_

_** Loving a certain should not define you as a person or make you less equal. We are all equal.**_

**Thanks for reading, I really appreciate all the follows, reviews and favourites I've been getting. I'll try to update asap.**


	7. Chapter 7

The afternoon sun shines down with a vicious ferocity outside and being cramped in this jeep, doesn't make the heat better. We are driving on this endless grey highway, with nothing to look at except the road ahead. All plants, trees and grass are dead, and there is not one bird in the cloudless sky. It feels like we have been travelling for hours. We have all the windows rolled down and we have to keep fanning ourselves in order to keep ourselves cool.

We decided to return to the highway, as it will be the fastest way to get to Lima, especially when we have to pass through the whole state of Pennsylvania. Puck drove to New York in the first place, so we trust him to know the way back to Lima. Luckily, we haven't encountered anymore zombies, yet.

The ride is silent, nobody seems to have the energy to talk or move. Dani and Santana are sleeping soundly, it seems that they didn't get much sleep last night. I think the rest of us are still in shock from the events at the gas station. I can't accept the fact that there are people like those still exist in this dying world. I'm glad that Puck shot that guy, although if it had been me I would have shot him somewhere else.

Puck is driving silently, it's when he's most silent that I am most scared, because I now he's thinking and probably about Quinn too. He shot James in the leg for hurting Santana, what's to stop him shooting me in the head for stealing his girlfriend.

The highway roads are now deserted, not a car or zombie are in sight, I guess they were closed off from some point or maybe, people were just smart enough not to travel during the beginning of the outbreak.

Blaine and Kurt say nothing as they are separated by the the row of seats dividing the car in two, but they constantly smile back and forth to each other through the exterior mirror on Blaine's side of the car.

"We need to take the exit," Puck announces abruptly.

"Why?" I question the sudden motive.

"The car is almost out of gas," Puck answers

"Already?" Blaine yawns.

"We've been travelling for almost four hours now," Puck points out. "It's not going to last the full eight hours. I think it's better to fill up now and not later "

A sign above us says the next exit is just some kilometres away, indicating we are somewhere in Pennsylvania. but since I am not very familiar with this state, I can't indicate how far we are from Ohio.

Puck pulls out on to the exit and a sign tells us that the nearest gas station is ten kilometers away.

"Where are we?" Dani yawns as she stretches her arms to wake herself up. On her lap, Santana bats her eyelids open and runs her hands through her messy, heat-effected hair. "Are we in Lima already?"

I can't help but notice the uncomfortable and scared expression that comes across Santana's face at the sound of the place name.

"We're somewhere in Pennsylvania. We're just taking a slight detour to get gas," Kurt explains.

"Isn't that a little dangerous?" Dani asks.

"It's still mid afternoon, we might still be safe especially when it's this hot," Puck replies. "I'll fill up the tank once we get there while you guys stay on guard. Try not to fire guns, the last thing we need is more zombies holding us up."

"Ok," Blaine agrees. "Everyone take their knife but bring your gun, just in case."

"Do I get one?" Dani enquires, and is passed a small dagger and hand gun from Puck's rucsack.

"We only have one spare hand gun, so under no circumstances must you lose your weapon or give one away, we're going to need extra weapons for Ohio," Puck says adamantly.

The exit leads us into a small town. The sight is a creepy one. Buildings have been burned down. In the ones remaining, windows have been smashed and doors have been kicked in. Cars have been abandoned at the side of the road by their owners, never to be returned to.

Worse still, strewn acrss the streets are rotting corpses, some with missing limbs and not one of them has a face that can be defined. But the worst sight, is just down from us, a large black pile almost ten feet has been constructed in an empty lot at the end of the street. The stench of the burning corpses is still present and it fills our noses like an unwanted visitor.

"Oh my god," I gag as I roll up my window, the others do the same.

"I can't believe people actually lived here," Dani whispers. "It's like a scene from a horror film."

"I wonder what happened to all the people," Kurt frowns.

There are absolutely no signs of life or sounds to be heard, Puck has slowed down the jeep so the sound of the engine doesn't attract anything. At the end of the street ahead of us, across from a row of houses, we see a gas station where cars have been abandoned by the pumps, some of their doors left wide open.

Puck brings the jeep to the halt under the shade of the station roof, as close to a pump as he can get. "Come on," he calls as he pushes his door open. We each grab our weapons, and slowly exit the vehicle, standing around it like a circular human shield.

"Please work," Puck prays as he picks up the pump handle. He smiles as gas begins to flow into the jeep and we all breathe with relief. It's a lot cooler here in the shade than it was in the jeep.

"Do we have any water?" I ask, parched from the heat.

"Here," Blaine tosses me a bottle from his backpack. The water is slightly warm but satisfactory none the less. I feel hydrated after the first drop hits my tongue but I drink more anyway, before tossing the bottle to Dani who is to my right.

"Dani!" Santana hisses from my left.

"Give me a second babe," Dani laughs softly as she takes a drink, but Santana isn't talking about the water. A small, skinny zombie has appeared from the doorway of the gas station, which is just behind Dani.

"Oh crap," She gasps as he approaches her, growling. He is wearing some sort of red and white uniform with a name badge, the same colors as the sign on top of the station. He literally worked himself to death.

"I got it," Santana states as she suddenly runs towards the zombie and in one swift and fierce hand movement, decapitates him. She didn't even flinch as he tried to bite her. His face bears an unprepared expression as it rolls to the ground.

"Santana!" I exclaim in horror and disbelief. Where did that sudden burst of adrenaline come from. "How did you do that?"

"Hold on, he's not alone!" Blaine warns as three more zombies appear from the doorway, growling and hissing.

"Don't shoot!" Puck demands, as he pulls an army knife from his back pocket and takes it out of it's protection cover.

They emerge from the door, only to reveal four more behind them.

"They must have gone there for shelter from the sun," I realize. We spread out as they make their way towards us, our weapons are raised. The zombies step over the body of the fallen,headless zombie without even looking at it.

We each have knives raised, but Santana is first to strike, some burst of energy and confidence has over come her as she takes a swipe at a zombie's neck, but he flinches, ruining her shot. She instead has to tackle him as he tries to take a bite of her arm.

The rest of us are now closed in by the rest of them, but Puck does not hesitate to attack. He swipes at the nearest zombie, and his actions are mimicked by Blaine and a trembling Kurt.

"What do I do?" Dani panics as the two of us stand nearby , as we are approached by three walking corpses.

"Just don't think of them as people!" I tell her as I angle my knife to prepare to attack the zombie, with a missing lower jaw inches away from me. "And aim for their head!"

I swing my knife at zombie's face, but it get's stuck half way through it's cheek. The zombie does not react and instead grabs hold of my shoulder. I yank the knife free from her face in panic and stick it through the side of her forehead instead. She lets out a vicious screech before she falls to the floor.

"Shit!" Dani curses from beside me, she is trying to pull her knife out from one growling zombie while another corners her.

"I'm coming," Santana pants and runs towards her with her bloody knife to tackle the other zombie. Dani succesfully pulls her knife out from the centre of the zombie's face and aims for the centre of his forehead but beside her we hear the clink of metal hitting the ground. Santana has fallen to the ground and her knife has dislodged from her hand.

"No!" Dani shouts, her knife still lodged in the head of the dead zombie at her feet. Nobody has time to reach them now, so she reaches in to her backpocket and pulls out her hand gun and shoots, missing on the first three attempts. It takes three more bullets for the zombie to fall dead at Santana's knees.

Santana looks up at her girlfriend and they simulataneously sigh with relief. "Thank you," She sighs.

But Puck ruins the calm atmosphere immediately. "What did I say about firing guns? Six gunshots! There has to be some around here that have heard that!"

"Puck!" I protest in annoyance, "She had no choice!"

"Then maybe you could have helped, they were right beside you Rachel!" He remarks bitterly, as we glare sourly at each other.

"Maybe we should move on," Blaine suggests awkwardly.

"Come on," Puck calls as he climbs into the car.

"Wait!" Santana freezes. "Look, over there!"

And Santana, once again has been the one to spot out zombies. Emerging from the same falling down house across the street, there must at least a dozen.

"Great," Puck says sarcastically through gritted teeth. "Get in the car now. We need to go!"

We don't hesitate to climb into the running vehicle but we can't help but notice the swarm of zombies getting relatively larger cross the street as more zombies emerge from their houses.

"Shit," I curse and Dani's eyes widen in shock.

"Wow, Rachel's cussing," Dani mumbles.

"She does it a lot lately," Kurt informs her.

"This apocalypse changes people," I mutter. Puck is accelerating fast now as he drives back towards the highway.

"Watch out!" Blaine exclaims as a zombie stands in our path, grovelling towards us. Puck swerves sharply around him and continues to drive. I glance out the rear window to see now hundreds of them in the distance. I've never seen this many together, it's crazy. To think that this is what has become of most of our country's population, it doesn't make me very hopeful either, sometime soon we may easily be outnumbered.

"Look!" Kurt squeals, pointing out the front window to the dark barricade ahead of us. Another, bigger swarm, containing at least two hundred zombies, is ahead of us but we won't be able to swerve around them this time. They're blocking the whole road as they move towards us, with greedy hands and hungry eyes, hunting our flesh. It looks like we won't be getting back on to the highway.

"There's a right turn ahead," Dani shouts and Puck quickly swerves the car, so we find ourselves on another industrial street.

"We're going to need somewhere to hide!" Puck announces.

"Look at that store there!" Dani points to a chained up, narrow, three floored building beside an alley just beside us. "We could climb up on the dumpster and enter through the windows on the roof."  
Puck slams on the break. "Come on! Quickly! We don;t have much time, grab all your belongings, if you fall behind , you get left behind!"

We exit the parked vehicle quickly and run for the dumpster, which can be smelled from meters away.

"Ladies first!" Puck decides, allowing me to climb up first.

"Wait, can they climb?" I question,

"No! Just climb!" Puck urges impatiently, I trust that he knows because he studied how zombies move and work for four whole weeks. I climb on top of the dumpster and have to jump to grab to flat top of the building before trying to pull myself up.

"It's ok, we'll give you a push," Dani calls from just two feet beneath me, I feel two arms grab my legs and push me up on to the building top.

"Now crack the very top of the windows glass Rachel, then reach in an pull the handle open!" Puck orders me from the ground below. I slowly hop on to the window sill at the front of the building and try to ignore the fact that I am three stories above the ground. I make a fist and punch a hole through the top part of the window so I can reach inside, I feel around until I find the cold window handle and carefully pull it open, luckily the window's are wide so we can all fit through. I see Santana and Dani waiting anxiously behind me so I quickly squeeze in through the open window.

My feet land on a wooden floor, the room is dark and dusty and it's only source of light is that shining through the window Around me are shelves of unboxed goods, it's a store room but it looks like nobody has been here in months.

"Is it safe?" Dani asks from outside.

"Yes, come on!" I reply and she hops inside, followed seconds later, by Santana who coughs from the dust. Kurt , Blaine and Puck joins us and we shut the window.

"Look there's curtains!" Kurt points out as he pulls them over the window, making the room a lot darker.

"Rachel,your fist!" Dani points out, I look down to see my fist covered in scratches and blood, I didn't even notice the stinging pain until now.

"Here!" Puck says , ripping of the cuff of his sleeve, he holds it out to me and I accept it, ready to bandage my hand. "Put some of your blood on it." He tells me, firmly. I frown and do so before he takes it out of my hands. Then he takes an empty bottle from his bag and wraps the bloody rag around it.

"What are you doing?" I ask as he makes his way to the window and slightly draws back the curtain.

"Throwing them off track," He replies. He's opens the window slightly before throwing the bottle forcefully over rooftops and onto another street. "We're still going to have to spend the night here, but maybe we can escape in the morning."

I see what he's doing but I would have appreciated a bandage.

"Oh Rachel! I have first aid supplies," Kurt lights up as if he knew what I was thinking. He kneels down and rummages through his backpack before revealing a roll of white bandages.

"Give me your hand," He says and examines it.

"Are you a nurse now?" Dani grins.

"Someone has to be!" Kurt replies seriously. "The last thing we want is an infected cut. Oh look, there's some glass in your hand. I'll get it out."

I wince in pain as he produces a tweezers. I always hated the doctor and having Kurt perform removing glass from my hand makes me very nervous.

"Now this won't hurt a bit," He tells me but boy, is he wrong. I have to clamp my free hand over my mouth to stop myself from screaming loud enough to attract every zombie in the state of Pennsylvania.

"Oh dear, it's lodged itself in there pretty deep," Kurt sighs, not helping me at all.

"Maybe I can do it?" Blaine offers. "I did First Aid classes a while back". I nod appreciatively and he sits down in front of me. He succesfully pulls out the glass before spraying the cut with some stinging liquid. Finally my wound is bandaged up. It hurts now worse than it did, but nothing can hurt more than the ever-present pain in my heart, the pain of lonlieness, fear and a broken heart combined as one. It's as bad, if not worse as what I felt when Finn died. At least I know the pain in my hand will disappear in a few minutes, I can't know if the pain in my chest will ever fade.

* * *

**A/N: Okay I suppose I haven't given much personal notes regarding the background of the story. I began writing this after the episode "New Directions" was released, so I haven't really taken into consideration much of the events that have occurred in the episodes that followed that. **

** I also included Dani because I really like this character for a lot of reasons, and Demi Lovato also. ****I'm so sad that she only has a temporary role on the show and it breaks my heart that Dantana is over, even though Brittana is great.**

**Also just a heads up for later chapters, _this is a zombie apocalypse,_ ok my story isn't going to be that realistic, but in such an event like this, not all New Direction members can survive. There will character death, both mentions of and killings in later chapters. I'm so sorry.**

**Thanks once again for all the support and feedback. I'll try get at least one chapter up in the next day or two.**


	8. Chapter 8

"We need to examine the floors below but I think we should be safe here for the night," Puck states after an examination of the room.

"What is this place?" Dan asks curiously as she walks over to the filled shelves and blows dust off the top of a cardboard box and peeks inside.

"What is it?" Santana asks as she joins her girlfriend.

"CD's," Dani smiles pulling out a copy of a Beyonce CD. "There's dozens of copies. And more in this box too!"

"Maybe it was a music store?" Kurt offers as he peers in another box.

"Let's look downstairs!" Dani suggests, opening the door, much to the disapproval of Puck.

"Hey!" He calls. "I will lead the way, I am in charge here."

"You?" Dani raises an eyebrow. "Who made you boss?"

"Leave it," Santana whispers into her ear. "Don't get him angry, please."

"Fine," Dani sighs. "Lead the way."

Puck straightens himself up, trying to forget the fact that he has just been challenged and leads the way down a small metal stairway until he reaches another door. This door leads into a brighter, decorated shop floor. My jaw drops at the sight. It's been so long since I've seen something so beautiful.

There's musical instruments of all types, arranged, stacked or hanging around the room. To our right is an assortment of guitars and basses of all types and colors and down from it are drum kits and loudspeakers. There are stringed, wind and brass instruments on the other side but the most beautiful sight is the large black, grand piano which sits so perfectly in the middle of the floor.

"Wow," Dani breathes in excitement. "Look at this place! Look at these guitars!"

"Wait," Puck announces as he paces around the room. "Don't touch anything! The sound will attract noise."

"I can't believe we found this place," I whisper. Across the room, light shines in through the safely chained up windows. It's like the owners made it their aim to keep this place safe and preserved.

"Look downstairs!" Kurt exclaims, peering over the railing of the stairs. I join him and stare down into the floor beneath us. It's filled with hundreds of thousands of CD's and records, all perfectly preserved and untouched. The doors and windows around the floor are barred up with iron bars and blackened out. We are completely safe here. It looks like once again, music has saved my life.

"Look at these beauties," Dani is whispering as she strokes a blue electric guitar. "If only."

I nod, understandingly. I forgot about music and how it changes people and makes everything better, if only we could listen to it. I run my fingers along the smooth black wood of the grand piano. My fingers tingle in excitement, itching to play but I have to force myself back.

"Let's check out downstairs," Blaine smiles. It's funny how enthusiatic everybody has suddenly become, all our troubles have temporarily become dormant. Everyone's except Puck's that is.

"Don't make any loud noises, we don't want to attract anything outside!" He warns sternly. I don't understand how he can't be overwhelmed by this magnificent scene.

The floor downstairs is home to rails of CDs and records. The lay out of the store makes it look vintage yet classic. It's the type of store I could have spent hours in.

"They have every sort of CD here," Kurt says as he shuffles through cds across the room.

"Wow," I breathe as I walk over to take a look. "Look at this place!"

"And look at these records!" Blaine says excitedly. "The Beatles! Queen! This music was the best!"

"The Beatles," Dani echos, as she gives Santana a sweet smile. I run my finger through arack of Cd's, stumbling across the original TLC single , "Unpretty", I don't even know if I found it purposely but I hold it in my hands and stare at it, my memory flashing back to the mash-up I sang with Quinn, our voices perfectly harmonizing.

"Look they even have Funny Girl the Original soundtrack!" Kurt squeals, in the "Musicals" section across from me.

"I just wish there was someway we could listen all this."

"You guys," Dani whispers from behind the shop counter. "You're not going to believe this but look what I found." She holds up an old, blue device, It takes me a few seconds to figure out what it is.

"A walkman," I smile. "I haven't seen one of these since I was six."

"Well you should get to listen to it first!" Kurt decides. "I want you to have some sort of happiness."

I am instantly offended by these words, he is referring to the fact that four of them have their partners, but I can't resist the offer, so I suck in my annoyance and take the portable machine from Dani's hands, and carefully slip in the Barbara CD.

I smile excitedly, as I press play and "If a Girl Isn't Pretty" fills my ears, for a moment everything feels okay. As if nothing is wrong and the world is perfect again. For this perfect moment, although it only lasts a few minutes I can let go of everything. I skip forward to "Don't rain on my parade" which is my favorite especially since I began performing it on Broadway. I wish I could listen forever but the others are looking at me with eager eyes. I stop the music once the song finishes and slip out the earphones. I return to reality as I hand the Walkman over to Kurt.

"Was it good?" Blaine asks with a kind smile.

"Amazing," I sigh longing to hear music again.

"There's some restroom facilities back here," Puck tells us who has been exploring the room behind the counter while the rest of us were exploring the music collections. "We shouldn't stay down here too long though, it's safer to be upstairs."

"Just give us a few more minutes," Blaine pleads, Puck agrees with a grunt before making his way upstairs, leaving the rest of us take in the beauty around us.

* * *

Finally, we make our way back upstairs. Everybody got to listen to at least one song before the batteries of the Walkman died out, we tried to find replacement ones but we couldn't find them anywhere.

Puck is sitting on the floor of the top flooring, carving into the floor with his army knife.

"What time is it?" Dani wants to know.

"Five o clock," Puck mutters. "I had planned to be in Lima by now."

"Well shit happens, plans aren't always going to work out anymore," Dani points out with a tired sigh. "I didn't plan to end up with some religious psychos for four weeks."

"But if you hadn't me them, you might not have met us," Kurt replies. "It just proves that everything will work out for the best!"

"Yeah, we'll get to Lima, and everything will be okay," Blaine replies taking his boyfriend's hand.

"What do you think it will be like?" Dani whispers. "And where will you go when you get there?"

"Different," Blaine replies. "We're going to look for our families and our friends. Kurt and I are going to look for our parents anyway."

"What about you Puck?" Dani questions. "Are you going to find your family?"

"I'm going to find my girl first," He replies simply. "She matters the most to me and I need to know that she's safe."

Santana subtly glances over at me, her face bears no expression but I know what she's thinking.

"And Rachel, we're going to find your dads!" Kurt tells me as if he's promising me. They think that my Dads are the only dear ones that I have but honestly I have barely thought about my Dads, my mind has been too preoccupied by Quinn.

"Then we're going look for all our friends," Kurt continues, optimistically. "Most of them were in Lima before the breakout. Tina, Kitty, Jake, Marley, Ryder, Unique,Sam and Artie hopefully and Quinn and Brittany."

I notice Santana flinch at the last name, her eyes have filled with fear again. She looks to me suddenly with a look of desperation. She's confused again. I want to comfort her but it would be too obvious. On the other hand, I feel like screaming at Kurt, he is too optimistic and setting himself up for disappointment and devastation. As much as I hate to admit it, Ohio was one of the worst hit places, it is highly unlikely that every single person we know has survived. The fact that Blaine hasn't stopped Kurt yet also angers me.

The others continue their conversation and I slowly move closer to Santana, she silently leans her head on my shoulder and the two of us sit there, without having to say a word but feel each other's pain all the same. I know Santana's divided between Brittany and Dani and I wish I could help her but I know I can't, and it scares me. If we do happen to find Brittany, I don't want Dani to get rejected but I don't want Brittany to be either. It won't end well and both Santana and I know it.

But my biggest problem is Quinn, I want to find her but at the same time I don't. We could get to Lima and she could still be angry with me, she might not feel the same way about me anymore since our argument. She may choose Puck, he has a lot more to offer than I do, and she was hesitant to break it off with him before hand. He is stronger than I am and can do a better job at protecting her , but if I know Quinn she doesn't need protecting. But we could find her dead or changed, and if we do I really don't know how I'm going to cope. But our path is decided, we are going to Lima. We are going to see things we won't like and sooner or later we will all have to accept them.

I think of Carol, Finn's mother who rang us a month ago, with a panicked voice. I hope she's alive along with my Dads but if she is, along with Quinn, she could find out about our relationship and hate me for moving on so quickly from Finn. I feel so guilty. I silently talk to Finn everyday, asking him to forgive me and asking him to help me along this road. I hope that wherever he is, he's not mad with me and he knows how much I miss him and love him.

A new thought enters my head, Shelby, and Beth. They were in New York too, how come we never thought of finding them? I know I never had a relationship with her but now I wish that I did. I wish that she had been there for more of my life and that instead of starting a new life with Beth, she could have rekindled her relationship with me. But I know she was a good Mom to Beth and she was happy and that's all the counts I guess. It must be two years since I last saw them but I do hope that wherever she is, both her and her daughter are safe.

We'll be lucky if we even make it as far as Lima at this stage but it looks like there's no turning back. All I can do now is sit silently and fear the rocky road that lies ahead of us, and accept what comes our way, the bad and the good. Whatever happens, happens.


	9. Chapter 9

"We're leaving," Puck shouts suddenly. My eyes flutter open from the restless sleep I have been in.

"What time is it?" I groan.

"6. a.m, the coast is clear outside and the jeep is still there," Puck explains. "Use the restrooms while they are still available, we are leaving at 6 30 sharp. I want to be in Lima by this evening!"

I yawn and slowly lift myself up from the wooden ground. Dani and Santana are waking up beside me, unhappy about the early wake-up call. I grab my bag and head towards the first floor so I can use the ladies' room.

* * *

The washroom only consists of a toilet and a sink but it is much cleaner than the gas station. I look at myself in the mirror as I was my face. I look like a stranger, with tired eyes and messy, damaged hair. A month ago i would have cared about make-up and having my hair styled but none of that matters any more. Personal beauty is a thing of the past, which seems quite selfish now that I reflect on it. To think that this nomad, staring back at me in the mirror was starring on Broadway a month and a half ago is bizarre.

I open my backpack and take out a spare shirt, we didn't have room to bring many spare clothes so I just brought the lightest but warmest clothes I could find. I used to care about what I wore, I always wanted to look sophisticated or pretty, but that it isn't an option anymore. Our only priority now is survival and you have to be prepared for that.

In the mirror I notice the dark circles under my eyes from lack of sleep. Last night I had another nightmare, everybody had shut me out upon reaching Lima because they had found people they loved and I had been rejected by Quinn. So I ended up being left outside alone in a zombie infested state by myself.

The more I reflect on it, I realize that it could happen if I am unfortunate enough, if that's the case, I should start going North now. My biggest fear right now is rejection. Quinn is the only person, apart from my Dads, that I am searching for. If she's dead or just refuses me, this horrible journey will seem pointless.

After I have washed and changed, I pull out my knife out, it's still stained with the blood of the zombie I killed yesterday. I turn on the water and watch the black blood run down the sink. Once it is clean, I dry it with tissue before putting it back in it's cover and into my back pocket. It's frightening how quickly I got adapted to killing. I didn't have to think twice about putting my knife through that zombie's head.

Santana's sudden ability to kill dauntlessly has me worried. She just ran at that zombie mercilessly. I wonder if out burst has come from her having to bottle up all her emotions. Either way, it is wise not to get on her bad side.

There is a sudden knock at the door. "Rachel," Santana calls. "It's me, can I come in?"

"Sure," I reply, I pull open the door to let her in.

"Where's Dani?" I ask.

"Oh, she's upstairs," She sighs as she shuts the door behind her. "Rachel, I don't know what to do. I feel awful , I'm just constantly lying to her."

"You don't love her?" I ask. "But you seem a lot more sure than you did when we found her the other day."

"I know, and I do love her, I really do, it's just-"

"Brittany," we say together.

"Yeah," she nods. "Brittany, the girl I spent months getting over, and left a wound that only Dani could partly heal. I love her, more than I've ever loved anyone! And only when she's gone from me, I can realize that. I need to find her now because I know she's too delicate to survive this ,but I'm not ready to lose Dani."

"You don't have a choice Santana, please I don't want Dani getting hurt, tell her the truth!"

"But what if Brittany is dead? Rachel, I can't let go of Dani, not yet, just give me a little longer," She pleads. I shake my head but what can I do? I'm still working out my own problems, I can't help Santana. She begins to cry softly.

"I'm just so confused," she sobs and I hand her a tissue. "And you know what the worst bit is? The only thing that makes me feel any bit better is killing those zombies."

I look at her in concern. "Rachel the first time I fired that gun, it just felt good, all the stress and confusion in my mind, it just disappeared, it made me feel like my old self, strong, fierce and confident."

"You know, you've changed incredibly in two days," I tell her. "Ever since we met Dani, it's like you're back, well parts of you."

She sighs again. "I guess Dani made me remember than I'm not this weak little child, but I'm just as scared now as I was before. This past month has sucked, but we all know that what ever lies in Ohio could be much worse, I don't want to have to kill anyone that i once knew but I don't want them to kill any of us. I'm so scared we're going to lose people along the way. Maybe it would have been better if we had died at the start."

"That's true," I mumble, I have often considered that fact but it's too late for thinking about what could have been. "We're here now, our only option is to keep going and see what 's it."

I decide to let her get ready and I head back upstairs to the others. I meet Dani on the second floor , she's holding the blue electric guitar on her lap.

"I used to have one just like this," She tells me. "Before I left home, you know I've never spoken to my parents since. They could be dead for all I know."

"Do you regret that?"

"No," she shakes her head. "If my parents weren't going to accept for who I was, I wasn't going to conceal myself just to make them happy. I stopped considering them as my family once I reached NYC, instead I became my own person, free from restrictions. I have never regretted leaving home, music is my passion and if I had stayed at home, my parents would have made me go to some Academic University to do something boring like Science or Maths. New York gave me the chance to be free, to make my own decisions and to incorporate music into my everyday life, plus if I had never left home I never would have met you guys."

I smile. "Well Pamela Lansbury wouldn't have been the same without you."

"Maybe someday, we'll be safe and we can sing together like we used to. It may be far in the future but you've got to find something to look forward to, right? Although, now that I have Santana back , I can't imagine myself being any happier."

I return her smile, but on the inside I feel guilty. Knowing that she might get hurt makes me feel just horrible inside. She runs her fingers along the strings of the guitar, and spaces out into her own world. I continue upstairs to the others, who are sitting there , waiting. Puck seems so eager to leave.

"What time is it?" I ask.

"6 25," He answers impatiently "Where are the other two?"

"Relax," I say coldly. "They're coming."

Puck's demands and orders are beginning to get on my nerve. I feel like snapping but I know it is better for all of us if I restrain myself and let him take charge.

Santana and Dani appear no more than two minutes later, hand in hand but Dani can obviously not see the unsurity in Santana's expression.

"Come on," Puck mutters and opens the window through which we entered. "Let's go."

I take one last look around this sanctuary, we may never find somewhere so precious and beautiful again.

"Rachel, you're up first," Puck informs me. I don't argue. I walk up to the open window and climb onto the window ledge. The cold wind blows through my hair and against my neck and I slowly sidestep across the ledge until I have reached the roof. Dani follows behind me, and then Santana. I see the dumpster on the ground below, at the side of the building. I have to gently slide myself down from the roof to reach it.

Once my feet hit the lid of the dumpster I climb down so that Dani can follow down. I wait as one by one, the others make their way to the ground. On the side of the street at the end of the alley way, our black jeep is waiting for us.

Puck leads the way and inspects the car to make sure it is zombie free.

"Okay, get in!" He tells us as he tries to start it. We once again hop in, shouting and locking the doors behind ourselves. Once Puck has the car running, he jumps in and drives.

"Back to the highway," he says someway down the road, the streets have been cleared of the hoards of zombies that were chasing us yesterday and the road back on to the highway is once again free. "We have had enough delays, we're not stopping again until we get to Ohio."

* * *

**_Okay sorry about the relatively short chapter, which hasn't made much impact on the story. I just thought that the next content deserved a chapter of it's own. I'll update as soon as possible._**


	10. Chapter 10

"If you see a zombie, shoot at it, only if you know you can hit it," Puck is saying as we continue to drive on the silent road. "We should be safe here to fire a gun. I doubt we'll come across many more zombies, for a while anyway."

I don't know how long we've been travelling now, but it seems like endless. I've remained silent, not knowing what to say to anybody. Love has me annoyed, Kurt and Blaine have it and Puck is determined to find it, just like I am, although he seems a lot more hopeful than I am. Beside me Dani and Santana are holding hands, Dani smiles adoringly up at Santana.

I'm angry with Santana, I feel like she's using Dani or setting up to get hurt. Santana gets to chose, and that isn't fair. But maybe I should be more considerate, because after all if we do find Quinn, she will be in the same position, although I don't think she would lead one of u on and abandon us for the other. I will have to compete against Puck just like Dani will have to compete against Brittany and that isn't fair.

It's still morning by the looks of things but I don't know if Puck's plan to get to Lima by tonight is going to work. Ohio is a big state, we won't have a clear road the whole way to Lima. Something in the distance catches my eye, there are figures moving towards over.

Zombies? I ask myself before wanting to say it out aloud. But I'm not convinced, they are not as hunched forward as the other zombies we've met. This group contains of five members, and I am almost sure they are holding shotguns. They're not zombies, I realise, they're people.

"Puck!" I say. "Look ahead, there's people!" They have spotted us too and are making a row across the road s that we can't pass by.

"Crap," Puck curses as he slows down the car, we come metres away from them before we can see their faces clearly. They are tired and dirty, three males and two females not much older than us, and the girls are dressed in nothing more than bikinis, shorts and light cardigans. They look impatient and tired, before we even talk to them I have a feeling that they will demand help rather than ask for it.

"Hey," The male in the centre shouts as we come to a halt, they are not willing to let us travel on any further.

"Hi," Puck nods. "Can we get through please?"

"Hold on now, where are all you going?"

"We're going home," Puck answers tonelessly.

The guy laughs. "I hope you don't mean Ohio, you're an hour drive away from the border, everything is barricaded, you're going nowhere in that vehicle. You may as well give it to us now."

"I bet they have loads of supplies," one the girls pipes up.

"And gas, if they're going to Lima," Another male adds.

"Wait, how do you know we're going to Lima?" I ask, confused.

"Sebastian," Blaine says through gritted teeth.

"Sebastian?" Kurt echoes in fright.

"Blaine, Kurt," he greets with a flashy smile. "You know you guys are more stupid than I thought. You won't make it four miles inside that state. Everybody is dead, so I don't even know why you're even bothering."

I form fists with my hands, how did a sly, sneak like Sebastian survive?

"Get out of the car, all of you, now!" The head male shouts, raising his gun.

"Rachel, Blaine, come help me, stay by the side of the car, Dani, Santana , Kurt, lock the doors, " Puck whispers as he opens his door pulling his gun behind him. I exchange a look of uncertainty with Blaine as we open our doors and climb out, our guns ready.

"Shit," one of the girl curses upon seeing our weapons.

"You want to fight?" Puck asks sternly, as he raises his gun.

"Just give us some of your supplies and we'll leave," the head male asks. "Come on guys, you're going to die before you get to Lima anyway, it would be stupid to let all those supplies go to waste, especially when you have nobody to give them too. You're just walking yourself into a death trap."

"Come on Rachel," Sebastian whispers in my ear suddenly. "Give us some food and weapons."

"Not a chance Sebastian," I hiss raising my gun.

"Nobody is alive in Lima, you Lima boys are and always have been stupid, nobody back there is smart enough to stay alive." The pack leader sneers edging closer to the car. "I bet I could beat you hands down in a fight."

"Tanner," Sebastian warns before turning his attention back to me.

Suddenly Sebastian has grabbed a hold of my wrist, he has spotted the knife in my back pocket and is now trying to grab it. "Get off me," I shout.

"Sebastian," Blaine shouts angrily running to help me, as I try to struggle free from Sebastian's grip. I force my hand free and punch him in the nose. He jumps back, holding both hands to his bleeding face.

Suddenly there is a gun shot followed by two girlish screams. I turn my head around to see the commotion but I am not prepared for this scene. The leader, Tanner is lying in a pool of blood on the ground, with his eyes wide open but yet he is not breathing. He has been killed by a straight bullet to the head. His life has been ended, just that quick.

"Puck!" I exclaim in horror. "What was that for?"

"They were trying to attack us!" He shouts back defensively. "As for the rest you, leave, now."

The other four young adults look to each other, their faces filled with horror and disbelief. Sebastian eye's meet mine, he looks like a lost puppy now that they've lost their leader.

"Run!" Puck shouts angrily at the group raising his gun. I watch them take a final glance at Tanner's body before they run, leaving the body and the gun behind.

I'm finding it hard to breathe. I can't believe Puck just killed a guy. I stare at Blaine who is just as shocked as I am. Puck just committed murder but he doesn't even see to care. He parades over to his victim's body and takes the gun from his hand.

"It's out of ammo," he announces it upon examination. "He was just trying to scare us into giving him these things. The others won't survive a day without him."

Pucks face shows no sign of remorse.

"Puck, you just killed him!" I cry. "You murdered him!"

"And? If I hadn't, he would have continued to attack us and steal our things, that guy Sebastian was going to attack you himself,is that what you wanted Berry? For us to reach Lima with no food or weapons to defend ourselves? If that's the case, why don't you just run along with those jerks now? Morality doesn't exist anymore!"

"Puck," Blaine whispers, he seems more offended than I am.

"Let's go," Puck mutters as he climbs back into the car.

"Are you okay?" Blaine asks me.

"I just can't believe it," I whisper in reply before opening the car door which Dani or Santana must have unlocked. The three inside the car are bearing petrified expressions but not one of them breathes a word.

I feel sick inside, as Puck starts the car, leaving that body there to rot or be eaten by zombies. A complete stranger who was killed for just trying to stay alive. We don't know who he was, how old he was or maybe if he was searching for loved ones, just like we are? All we knew was his first name, Tanner.

Puck reverses so he can swerve around the dead body. The car is silent, but Puck doesn't seem to care, getting to Lima is his only concern. We're all scared, but I know that this isn't the real Puck, like I've said before, they've started to go crazy. I don't feel safe around him anymore but I can't abandon the group, I want to make sure they all get to Lima safely, even Puck. It's too late to get out of this now.

As we drive away, I take a final glance at Tanner's body which has been left on the side of the road, with no friends or family to mourn his death. His face is the worst bit, he looks so unprepared, he didn't even get to close his eyes. i don't think I'll ever erase that image from my head. I don;t want to accept the fact that what Puck said is true, Morality is dead. There's no laws or rules anymore, our government is dead or fighting to survive like we are. Murder isn't illegal anymore. Puck believed he had to kill that guy so that we could stay alive. What if that's what everything will come result in, killing other people as well as zombies? Because eventually, we're going to run out of food and weapons.

Puck continues to drive for an hour but the tense silence makes the journey seem endless, there is nothing but the dead grey roads but the scene dramatically changes when a barricade consisting of concrete blocks and high wire fences appears before us. Tanner was right, we weren't going to get far with the car, the whole road is sealed off. There's no way around this barricade.

"We're at the border," I realise. Red letters have been spray painted across the concrete blocks. "KEEP OUT, NOT SAFE" and "DANGER! STAY AWAY!"

"Oh my gosh," Dani gasps. "There's fences everywhere, they really didn't want people to get in."  
"Or out," Santana adds.

"The others got out, so there must be a way," Puck says. He stops the car, realizing there's no way through. He steps out and motions for us to follow, I suppose we have no option. We step out in to the open, our only forward now, if there is one, is on foot.

"Over here," Puck calls from one part of the fence. Through it we can see there are six more layers of fences. "They must have cut their way through here."

He climbs in through the fence before calling back to us. "It's narrow, go one at a time and do it slowly. Don't cut yourself on the wire."

I follow him through the layers of metal until there are no more. I look around at this strange sight. There are small, makeshift sheds made of corrugated iron that have been built on the side of road, they look like they were used by some sort of military group who probably had to guard the border, as well as a tall watch tower, but they have been abandoned now. There is not a weapon or car in sight.

"We're going to have to walk," I whisper to Santana and Dani who are now at my side.

"Look at all those zombies," Dani wrinkles her nose. A long the road, are the headless bodies of over twenty zombies laid out side by side, their heads have been left scattered around the side. Beside the bodies are two of the heaviest looking axes I've ever seen.

"Do you think those guys killed all of them?" Kurt asks from behind.

"Maybe, they can't have been killed all that long ago," I say. It would make sense that the group left the heavy axes behind, they wouldn't have been able to run with those in their hands.

"Look at that pile over there," Dani points to a large heap down the way. I walk closer to it to inspect it, it's a huge pile of zombies, hundreds of them, but all that remains are the bones of the corpses, all their flesh must have rotted away, who knows how long they've been left there. The smell is horrible, probably the worst we've encountered yet.

"Well there's no point staying around here," Puck says. "There's no weapons or supplies in these buildings, they've been cleared out and abandoned. Let's get off this highway."

We fall into some sort of line, following behind Puck, of course I am the only one walking by myself. The others are content with their significant other. I don't know what Puck is doing or where he is bringing us, but I'm too tired and traumatized to question his intuition.

I thought we could escape the sights of corpses for a while but we can't, the remains of dead bodies lie down the street like flowers down a red carpet, except in a horrible, sick and nauseating way. It looks they were trying to leave the state too but were prevented . Looking around it's impossible to believe that this is my home state, I don't feel any of the relief that I had expected to feel upon returning to Ohio. Getting back to Lima is more of a reality now but we there is a probably a higher chance that we will be attacked by zombies first. Now that we have no vehicle and no highway, it seems as though we won't be reaching Lima tonight.

Maybe that is a good thing, because I am not ready for Puck to learn the truth about me and Quinn, although I don't think I'll ever be ready. But to see her face even just one last time, it would make this entire journey and this horrible life I've been living, worthwhile. I just want to tell her I'm sorry, I can maybe make this ever present guilt in my heart disappear.

We continue walking down the road, passing by countless bodies,I walk in silence but I can hear the others whispering to each other behind me. I don't know how long we've been walking but my feet are beginning to ache. Suddenly I feel somebody clutch my hand, Dani and Santana have stepped into line with me.

"I know you're secret," Dani whispers with bright eyes. I look at Santana bewildered, she was supposed to keep it a secret.

"Don't worry!" Dani continues. "I'm not going to say a word. I'm just surprised, I never suspected that you were-"

"That makes two of us," I reply.

"Three, "Santana adds.

"But Dani, please you can't tell anybody," I whisper so low that only she can hear. "If Puck finds out he will shoot me."

"It's ok," She says warmly. "You're secret is safe with me. Rachel I promise you that we're going to get you back safe to Lima, so you can find her, isn't that right San? And Santana's parents too."

"Yeah," Santana mumbles quietly and averts her eyes to the road.

"I don't even know if she still wants me," I confess to Dani. "We had a fight the last time we spoke."

"I know I've never met this girl Quinn, but I'm sure she's lovely, and I'm sure that she is worth fighting for, Santana told me how much you love her and I'm sure she feels the same about you, she would be crazy not too!" Dani smiles sweetly, squeezing my hand. I smile at her in return, unsure of how to react or what to say.

"Wait, what's that?" Dani suddenly asks in panic, I follow her eyes as a large red pick-up truck comes our way. I inhale in shock, I can't believe there's actual live people around. What if they try to attack us just like the last group?

"Guns ready!" Puck orders. I can hear the revving of the truck's engine as it comes closer and closer until it breaks to a stop about ten feet away from us. Nobody makes a move.

"Don't shoot," A voice shouts from the truck as the door swings open. "Just come to the door!"

Puck looks at me and motions for me to follow, how come I'm always picked to do these things? Inside the truck a middle aged man with brown hair and messy beard in a once-grey coat. He sits by himself, he has his hands raised in the air, weaponless.

"Look I ain't going to hurt you so please don't shoot."

I look at Puck who lowers his weapon so I copy his action.

"What are you fools doing here?" The man questions."Why are you still in Ohio? Surely if you're alive, you'd try to escape?"

"We came from New York, We're going to Lima," Puck answers defensively.

"All that way? To Lima? You know that place was one of the worst hit?" The man scratches his head.

"We don't care, we need find our families," I reply. "Why are you here?"

"Fair enough. My name is Dr. Ray Whitherstone, I'm a scientist from the Infection Control Department of Ohio Science Research Centre , I'm running tests or trying to anyway, you folks are the first I've seen in a long time, I was heading back to my lab when I saw you in the distance so I drove over to see what the heck you were doing. How on earth did you even get inside the border?"

"Someone had cleared a way for us," I tell him. "I'm sorry but we have to keep going."

"Wait, you're not going to get there by nightfall on foot!" He protests. "If you're going to persist and continue your journey to Lima, let me at least help. My lab is about two hours from Lima, I have enough room for you guys in my car, I'd be happy to drive you."

I perk my head up at the thought, it would be much safer than walking that's for sure, but it would also mean we would be home sooner than we anticipated. I could finally stop worrying and find out if Quinn is alive or not. What's the worst this guy can do? There is six of us and one of him. I had seen the research centre before so I know it isn't so far from Lima.

"Why should we trust you?" Puck asks.

"Look, I'm just trying to help you guys out, you don't have to take it you can stay out here and try defend off the zombies you encounter by yourself, you're not going to find a vehicle for miles,you're just the first people I've seen in about five weeks, I'm just trying to be a good person. Do you want a lift or not?"

"What have we got to lose?" I shrug.

"Rachel!" Puck shouts. He pulls me aside and whispers harshly, "Are you crazy? Have you just forgotten all the other people we have experienced up until now?"

"Come on Puck, do you want to get to Lima or not, what's the worst he can do?" I reply bitterly. "I want to get somewhere safe before nightfall."

He mutters something under his breath before calling out to the others. I never thought I'd get into a stranger's pick-up in the middle of nowhere, but this is an apocalypse, we don't know have much choice.


	11. Chapter 11

**Author's Note: Wow, I can't believe how many views this story has gotten! Also thank you so much for all the follows, favourites, reviews and PM's I've received. Just to let you know, I slightly updated the last chapter, it hasn't changed the plot or anything, but if you want to re-read it you can. There is also a small mention of abuse at the end, but I won't make it too detailed, I want to keep this T rated.**

* * *

I climb into the spacious back of the truck. Kurt, Blaine , Santana and Dani join me while Puck takes the passenger seat.**  
**

"Who is he?" Dani whispers in my ear.

"He's a scientist from the Science Research Centre in Ohio," I reply. "t's only two hours from Lima."

"Research centre?" Dani echoes.

"I never caught your names," The professor says before I can respond to Dani.

"My name is Rachel, " I answer. "Puck is beside you, and this is Santana, Dani, Kurt and Blaine."

"It's nice to meet you folks, I'm Doctor Ray Whitherstone, so what were you all doing in New York?" The Scientist asks as he turns the truck around to drive deeper into Ohio.

"We were performing Arts students," Kurt tells him. The scientist looks at Puck doubtfully. "You too?"

"No Sir, I'm an Air Force recruit. I was visiting my ill grandmother in New York."

"Weren't the airforce needed to evacuate people?"

"I was stuck in New York when they began the evacuation process, it all happened so fast and I had no way of leaving the city."

"I understand," The scientist nods. "It was crazy, how fast it spread, you know the first signs were ignored weeks before the break out, there were only a few cases, we thought it was some kind of flu, then people began to turn into these crazy, deluded creatures, losing all their wits. We tried to figure out what it was once this happened but we left it too late, the virus was spreading faster than we expected. People were turning and there was nothing we could do to stop it."

"How long does it take for someone to turn?" I ask.

"Well if it was caught from the air it could take up to two days to turn but if one was infected from direct contact that is biting, it can take as little as an hour depending where and how much you've been bitten to fully turn, at most four hours, and that's after the hallucinations and speech loss starts. Now the air doesn't carry the disease anymore but there's enough zombies around to make up for that. Once you're bit, there is no going back. I've seen it many times at the lab, we took in people who had been infected by others and as well as that, some of my colleagues, my girlfriend." He sighs, and returns his focus to the road.

I inhale deeply, losing every trace of your humanity in just four hours? That's hard to process. I thought watching someone die was bad but I maybe watching someone turn into a monstrous creature who can easily kill you is even more difficult to do, especially when you love that person.

"What did you do?" Puck asks. "With the infected."

"There's only one thing that can be done," The doctor replies blankly. "They are too much of a threat, they are not capable of rational thinking or talking, they will try to kill any source of prey in their sights, even if it that was someone close to them before they turned. Until a cure is found,they need to be killed."

"Look ahead of us," he tells us, I notice that we are no longer on the dull grey roads of the highway, in fact we are hardly on a road at all, the ground we are driving on looks like it has been scorched, all around us are large piles of black ashes and crumbling buildings which have been burnt to the ground, and all plant life around them have been killed too. It looks as though this place has been burned to the ground for a long time but the smell of smoke remains.

"What is this place?" I as already knowing the answer.

"All towns around the border were sealed off and burnt to the ground. Everything and everyone inside them burned too, they evacuated everybody they could but how could they know there weren't people hiding inside?" The doctor asks cynically. "They thought they were stopping the infection but it was too late, this infection couldn't be stopped and people had already escaped across the border."

"They?" Someone questions.

"The government, or somebody they sent. Now here we are fighting for survival while they're hiding in some other country." He spits in disgust, he seems too bitter to be challenged about this statement so I remain silent. I look out the window in horror, I think of all the people who were maybe like us, trapped in our apartment just trying to survive, only to be killed in an uncontrollable blaze. It's nauseating to think about.

"Why did you stay in Ohio?" Dani asks.

"This is where my work is, a few of stayed at first, trying to work out a cure but every single one, except me and one other was eventually infected. But my colleague fled like the coward he was, leaving me behind. I've driven around Ohio, trying to find supplies and survivors at the same time, but I've never found anyone else. But I'm determined not to give up, I'm going to do everything I can to try find a cure."

"That's very noble of you," Blaine compliments.

"I have to do what I have to do," the doctor mumbles.

"Lima," I finally speak. "Has it survived?"

"Yes," He sighs. "You kids are truly crazy going back there, Lima and the surrounding areas were really badly hit, nobody is quite sure why, I think one of the first infected victims must have travelled to the vicinity, but the authorities couldn't even seal it off because there were literally zombies everywhere, nobody could get in or out, I'm not saying everyone is dead but if your families are alive, you may count yourself some of the luckiest people alive. Security forces were sent in helicopters and they shot down hundreds of zombies, all over the place, in houses, in neighbourhoods but even though they killed a big proportion you're still going to have difficulties getting past all those zombies which lurk in different places around the city."

I frown, unsure what to make of this, but it not getting burned down is surely a sign?

"So is there any progress towards a cure?" Blaine asks.

"Well I'm still working, but I don't know about other scientists, I haven't been able to make communication with other scientists in three weeks, before then I was talking to scientists in Washington who were doing all they could but they haven't been answered their phones since, nobody else has either, they said they would send help but that never came but anyway, I'm committed to staying here for the time being," He responds. "The human race is slowly dying, who knows how many countries have been infected by now? Nobody will pick up their telephone and the television, radio and internet don't work, I've no way of contacting the outer world. Who knows how many people who had been infected by the air had travelled to different countries? I've no way of knowing how many people are left on this planet, we have to wait for some other country to come to our rescue and hope they look for survivors, in the meantime it's just us versus these zombies."

"The zombies, do they pose any dangers apart from biting?" Puck is anxious to know.

"Well even though they can't talk or think rationally, many of them seem to remember their last memory as a human, that is what we discovered at the research centre. They are likely to lurk around their home or workplace or go somewhere that they had planned on travelling before they were infected. That is the reason why many of them were near the border barricades when they were shot, because they were trying to escape before they turned. If somebody in your group turns, you have to kill them or they will follow you."

So if are families and friends have been infected, then we could possibly find them in our homes? The words "Home" and "refuge" are no longer linked in my head. I don't want to return home if my father's have been killed there or worse, they are infected. If we accidently go looking in the wrong places, we may end up having to kill people who were dear to us but I'm sure that if there are survivors in Lima and I can only hope there are, that they will have found each other and found somewhere safe and well secured to stay in order to survive.

"What about up North?" Dani asks. "Are the rumours true?"

"I could believe so, I have seen myself that the zombies are not so tolerant of the cold. The only difficulty is getting there," the doctor confirms, liftng our spirits a little. At least we know our end goal of going North isn't completely pointless.

"I can't believe this is Ohio," Kurt mumbles as we continue to drive through the dead landscape.

"I know," I whisper. "This was home, once."

So much has changed since I last came, the last time I travelled to Lima I was anxious, maybe even more anxious than I am now.

**_ I was sitting on the train which my hands clenched tightly when my phone began to ring._**

**_ I immediately picked it up upon seeing the number. "Hello?" I asked trying to sound cheery but I may have over done it._**

**_ A soft chuckles responded from the other end of the phone. "You know you sound more like a Broadway star every time I talk to you. I'm just ringing to say I just got here."_**

**_ "Is there anybody there?" I asked nervously. People finding out was my biggest fear, Lima was the only place I could run to if things failed in new York, if people hated me for moving on from Finn so quickly and stealing Noah Puckerman's girl, I'd never be able to go back. As well as that, Quinn could get treated even worse about it and I wasn't going to risk that happening._**

**_ "Relax, I told you my mother is gone to Toronto with my sister for two weeks, " She sighed calmly. "What's gotten you so tense?"_**

**_ "Nothing, "I replied. "I'm fine. I can't wait to see you."_**

**_ "Likewise," I could hear her smile. "How long until you get here?"_**

**_ "An hour," I told her._**

**_ "Are you going to visit your dads first?"_**

**_ "No they'll just want to know where I'm staying," I answered._**

**_ "Oh what's the big deal? They're going to find out eventually." Quinn asked light-heartedly._**

**_ I sighed, not wanting to tell the full truth."I know, I know, I just want to spend this weekend with you."_**

**_ "Okay, well I'll pick you up from the station, text me once you arrive," She instructed._**

**_ "Okay, I'll see you there," I told her, a small smile finally breaking through._**

**_ "I'm looking forward to it Ms. Berry," she teased. "And for heaven's sake Rachel, relax and smile, it's your best feature."_**

"What time is it?" Dani asks through a yawn. The scientist in the front looks down at his watch. The littered and broken roads that he has taken us on have caused us to drive for some hours.

"It's half five," he replies. "My lab is just fifteen minutes from here. But you now Lima is a two-hour drive from here, and I don't have a spare vehicle to give you guys, I've had to use up all the gas, I would drive you there and back but it would be too dark by the time I got out of there. Maybe you guys could stay at the lab tonight? It's highly secured, nothing can get in or out without the pass code and we have our own generator so I have electricity, and heat, working showers and plenty of food and space. I'll drive you to Lima in the morning."

It sounds so tempting, electricity, heat, and hot water. "Puck?" Blaine asks, on the verge of pleading.

"Come on Puck," Dani urges. "A few hours can't make much of a difference surely."

I wanted to get to Lima but now I realize that can't happen tonight. It is clearly the better option to stay in the lab, just for one night. He pulls on to some road which I'm sure I recognise from before, but it has been severely altered by the catastrophe that happened here. "My lab is at one end of the research centre, about five kilometres away from the main building." he says as we drive past one heavily sealed off entrance to the large twenty storey grey building that i have seen many times before. "The centre is so big that it was closed off sometime back, some of the lower floors were destroyed making them completely inaccessible, but there could be zombies in there for all we know."

He swerves on to some road which is leading to the back of the huge Research Centre grounds. This place is the size of a small city but most of it seems to be shut down and sealed off. "My lab is the only bit not sealed off but it is secure enough to stop people or zombies getting in anyway. It was always kept securely away from the centre in case we were ever dealing with dangerous chemicals or contagious infections," he explains. We arrive at the heaviest metal gate I have ever seen but they open quickly as the car approaches. The doctor drives through and the gates quicly shut behind.

"How did it do that?" Santana asks curiously.

"It only recognises certain vehicles that have been authorised by staff, otherwise visitors have to wait at the gates until someone inside has authorised for them onto to the grounds."

We come to another set of gates, these ones are black but don't budge as we approach. Instead the scientist has to roll down his window and scan his hand on some sort of machine. "Access accepted," A robotic voice confirms as the gate open promptly.

Behind the open gate, I can finally see the building , it's grey and has metal bars on each window and security cameras at every angle, it looks like something like "Area 51" in movies, but with just one floor, it's not as large as I had expected.

"There's two more floors underground," He explains as if he read my mind. "It's all part of the security issues. But those gates will keep anything from getting in. We're safe now." He pulls the truck into a spot, alongside 2 black SUV's. These must be the ones he's taken gas from.

"Come on folks, let's get you all inside," he smiles as he exits the car. We cautiously follow behind, Puck has his gun slightly raised as he walks at the doctor's side.

The doctor scans a card on the side of the wall and the heavy metal screen that covers the door begins to lift, he then puts his hand on another scanner before the thick black doors will open.

"Get in quickly," he orders. "They close very quickly." He allows us to enter ahead of him so we quickly enter the darkly lit building. He enters behind us and presses a switch , the floor is illuminated within seconds. The corridor isn't as dreary or scary as I thought it might be, instead it is like a sanitary and comfortable private hospital.

There are rooms numbered 1 to fifteen on my right but some of their curtains have been drawn to prevent of us from seeing into them. The one or two rooms that are open loo like the science laboratories in McKinley except with more equipment and difficult looking technology.

"I'll take you down to the second floor, that's where all the facilities are," Dr. Whitherstone tells us as we arrive at a wide stair case. Another door awaits us but this time all he has to do is swipe his card and it opens.

He turns on another set of lights and the floor instantly is alight. It looks similar to the last floor with it's blue floors and cream walls but the rooms here are bigger and not as many of them have been covered by curtains. They appear to be offices rather labs and the door each have their own signs such as "Controls" "Maintenance" "Project Records"and "IT Room 3". "This is the heart of the building," he tells us. "ll of the controls to power the building are here, so if we need to shut anything down or turn something on, we can do it from one of the controls room. We have no labs on this floor, just offices, files and databases and of course, our living facilites."

"On your right you can see sleeping rooms 1 and 2 , we used them when we didn't have time to return home to sleep in between shifts, they consist of bunk beds but they are comfy all the same. Room 1 is for males and room 2 for females, inside there are adjoining bathrooms with working showers."

I see Dani grinning at Santana in the corner of my eye while Kurt is smiling with relief. I feel relieved myself, I can't remember the last time I had a nice shower.

He approaches a door on our left, this one is labelled "Kitchen," I notice that every door has a device attatched to it so that it can only be opened by a swipe card. Dr. Whitherstone swipes his card and leads us into the large room, consisting of every appliance we could need.

I can see the others' eyes light up at the sight. We may even be able to have a hot meal.

"I have a lot of food, mind you it's all canned or frozen, but they're all safe from disease, the water in the tap too is uncontaminated, it comes from our own source," He tells us. "We have coffee too, but i'm going to warn you it's pretty crappy stuff. You can help yourself to whatever you want."

"That's very kind of you," I thank, it's nice to know that are still some ind people out there. He's brought us to one of the most secure places in the state and now is providing us with all of this.

"It's no problem Rachel," he smiles. "It's nice to have some proper human contact."

Meanwhile Kurt and Blaine have began to look through the food supplies. I see them take out canned meats and a box of pasta.

"We'd like to cook you dinner Doctor," Kurt offers. "As a thank you."

"Well that's very ind of you, I can't cook very well myself so I'm going to take you up on that offer," He smiles. "I just need to go check on some things in the controls room, so I will return in a few minutes. If the rest of you would like I can show you to the sleeping rooms."  
"Go on," Kurt urges, meaning he wants some alone time with his boyfriend. "We'll call you all when you're ready."

Doctor Ray leads us to the sleeping rooms and swipes them open with his card. "Now I'll just deactivate that security from the controls room so you can enter and exit your rooms as much as you 's some towels in the closet if you want to take a shower."

"Thank you Doctor," I say as he holds open the door of Sleeping Room 2 for us. He nods curtly and leaves. The bedroom looks like something out of a summer camp except with no windows. It consists of four bunk bed frames, but I will only be sharing the room with Dani and Santana. Great.

I have decided that I'm going to urge Santana to tell Dani the truth before we get to Lima, I'm not going to let her do this to Dani or to herself anymore, it is not fair if Dani is just a second choice. And I know that Santana loves her but there is no choosing when it comes to love, you only get one.

I drop my backpack at the foot of a bed frame and immediatley walk towards the large wooden closet at the end of the room, inside are three clean white lab coats as well as a number of white cotton towels. I pick one up and press the soft material to my face. The warmth and comfort it brings feels divine and it smells as though it has never been used.

I see Dani and Santana copying my actions. I continue to the bathrooms. They are simple, like those in locker room, but the prospect of hot water makes me forget that anything else even matters. I enter one of the shower cubicles and hastily take off my clothes so that I can turn on the hot water shower and let it pour down on me.

The steamy water falls down like a rain shower, it feels so good against my hair and cold body. I never want to leave, it feels like forever since I have felt heat. I could stay under here forever but I not that is not plausible. Finally I feel ready to turn off the shower and dry myself in the soft towel which embraces me as I wrap it around myself.

After getting dressed I return to the bedroom closing the bathroom door behind me. But only seconds later Santana emerges drying her hair with her towel.

"That was amazing," she smiles.

"Where's Dani?" I ask.

"She wasn't ready to leave the shower yet so I gave her a few minutes."

"Santana, this ends tonight," I tell her straight up. "I don't care that we haven't found Brittany yet but I'm not letting you do this to Dani, she saved your life, the least you owe her is the truth."

She sighs. "I know, I've felt bad about it, but I do love her-"

"But you also love Brittany and you don't get a choice. So Santana you have to tell her before you break her heart or else I will."

"Ok, ok," Santana replies defensively. "When did you get so uptight? I'll tell her ok?"

"Thank you," I whisper. We sit in silence on seperate beds, Santana looks like she's deep in thought. I know she's also worried because she's fidgeting with her hands.

"Hey," Dani smiles as she re-enters the room. "I guess we better check if the boys need help."

"Good idea, "I reply. I head to the bedroom which is unlocked just as the doctor had promised to do and we return to the kitchen.

* * *

Kurt and Blaine had prepared a hot dinner consisting of pasta and some sort of meat, I didn't really question the ingredients, it just felt so good to remember what foods tastes like when it's hot. We thanked the doctor for his kind hospitality, I don't remember the last time I felt this secure. This building is just the perfect refuge from the world, but we know we can't stay here forever. We need to return to Lima and then go north and find other people.

Puck has suggested we all return to our rooms and get some sleep for tomorrow. As we exit the kitchen I whisper in Santana's ear, "Do it now."

She frowns at me but nods, sadly. I stay behind as they head to the room, they need space and time to talk.

"Rachel, are you ok?" Dani asks looking over her shoulder.

"I just need some space for a few minutes, " I answer. "I'll be there soon"

"Okay," She frowns as she disappears into the room. Soon I'm the only one left out here.

"Some space huh?" The Doctor asks politely, I had forgotten he was still in the kitchen.

"Well they need to talk somethings over, I want to stay out of their way," I reply.

"It must be pretty lonely for you, two couples and a guy who's head over heels for some girl you mighn't even find."

I tense up at his describing of Quinn as "some girl", she is anything but that.

"Oh forgive me, I'm sorry I didn't mean to insult you, I just thought it couldn't be easy, seeing that sort of affection every day. I lost my love too. She got infected and it was me who had to kill her. Just seeing your friends still in love upsets me. They're so optimistic, it's as if love is a shield, it protects us from the cruel reality of the world we've been left in. No offence but I just feel miserable looking at them knowing that I might never feel that again."

"Me too," I sigh.

"I'm going down to my lab, you can come if you want, I can show you what I'm working on," He suggests.

"Sure," I shrug, I was never that interested in science but I have nothing better to do. I follow him down another flight of stairs to a door, this one is more heavily guarded than the last. He scans his hand again and swipes his card. The door opens into a very dark corridor, I step inside and wait for him to turn on to the lights, when he does, it barely lights up. I wait for more lights to turn on but they don't.

"This is where we carry out the more dangerous testings so security is tighter," he explains. He leads me to the second door on the right. A sign on it reads "Dr. R. Whitherstone." He pushes open the door to a large room, there are cabinets and refridgerators at one side and computers and technology of sorts at the other. In the middle is a large grim looking patient chair, accompanied with arm restraints, I swallow in fear. He picks up some sort of silver flask from a small table and takes a large swig of it.

"Now," the doctor smiles as he locks his door sharply. "We're safe."

"Safe?" I raise an eyebrow, his broad smirk has made uncomfortable.

"Rachel you're going to be such help to me," He smiles as he draws nearer, I back away from him slowly, "you see I ran out of subjects to test on, my girlfriend, she was the last one, after she died, there was nobody left."

"Get away from me," I say, my back hits the wall. Chills run up my spine. "Please just let me go."

"Oh come on Rachel, it would only be fair that you repay all the help I have given to you and your friends," He says as his face meets mine. His lips twist into a sick grin. "But since we're down here let's have a little fun first."

I realize his intentions minutes before he grabs me by the hair and forces his lips onto mine, biting down on them so I can taste blood. His tongue is fresh with the taste like alcohol and it makes me want to gag. I try to push him off but he is too strong. His hands move away from my neck as he begins to grab me and push me towards the reclining chair. I try to scream but I can't, his mouth is preventing me from doing so. I'm all the way down on this third floor, and I realize that maybe the heavy security, isn't to stop people getting in, it's stop people getting out.

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**Sorry for the cliff hanger! I'll update asap. **

**I hope this chapter was ok. This story is getting longer than I thought it would be!**

** Anyway, I hope these rumors about Naya Rivera being fired off glee are false, Santana is one of the best characters on the show, also I wish Dani had a bigger part. Does anyone know if she's even still on the show? I wish there was more of her.**

**New chapter soon, thanks for reading.**


	12. Chapter 12

I try screaming as he straps one of my arms in to the restraints on the chair. He pulls me by the hair, forcing me on to the chair as he restrains my other arms. I feel my knife in my back pocet but it is useless now that my hands are tied down. I'm completely defenseless, tears spill down my cheeks as he continues to touch me and kiss my neck harshly.

"Help me!" I scream at the top of my lungs, but he silences me with kisses, in between swigs of alcohol from his flask. He continues to grab and kiss me. His rough touch makes me feel violated and worthless, I'm being used like some sort of doll. Tears flow down my face. I can't bear it much longer. I close my eyes to block out the sight of him. In my mind I pray for help, and Quinn immediately appears in my mind. I can feel her squeezing my shoulder, reassuring me. "It's okay Rachel," her voice tells me soothingly. "You're stronger than him Rachel! You can beat him!"

"Quinn!" I cry out. "Help me!"

I need her here by my side, not just now, but always, the fear of losing her has made me forget that. I love her with every inch of my being, why couldn't I have just told her that that day? Maybe I would still be with her in Lima, none of this would be happening. I want to be with her always.

"Shut up and kiss me!" He orders, but I refuse.

With my free legs I try to push him off me, he glares at me angrily as he stands up and walks across the room. He pulls two glass vials from a refrigerator, one labelled X and the other Y. I begin to squeal as I realize his intentions.

"Shut up," He says, hitting me across the face. It immediately begins to sting. "A cure is never going to be found if I don't have people to test it on, the sooner you stop moving the sooner we can get this over with. And believe me, I don't want to hit your pretty little face again."

I lose the urge to scream, nobody can help me now.

He adds X to a syringe and reproaches me. "Such a pretty face," he smiles, stroking my cheek. "I hope this works, it would be a shame to lose someone as pretty as you. As least I have five others to test on if you fail."

"No!" I scream in protest.

"Ssh, you don't want to break my concentration, do you?" He asks, pointing the needle towards my arm.

"What is it?" I tremble.

"Don't worry about this, this is still work in progress, it won't have any effect until I inject Y," He tells me, the needle sinks into my arm and I let out a gasp of pain through my teeth.

"Not so bad, was it?" He says, as he retrieves the second glass vial.

"What is that?" I ask nervously.

"This is the virus, but don't worry I have a gun in case anything goes wrong." He says, with a devious grin, showing me a black gun in his coat pocket. My heart stops beating, the virus, I will turned before I even get to see Quinn, I can't let that happen. I can hear her sweet voice inside my head again, encouraging me. "You can do this Rachel! I know you can! You have to be strong."

I try to pull my hand free. He walks towards me with the bared needle but I furiously kick him away, the force is strong that he flies across the room and the vial falls out his hand. I flex my fingers trying to set my right hand free from the restraints as he picks himself off the ground. He comes back to me, growling and I kick him again, this time with less force because I am too busy concentrating on freeing my hand. Finally I loosen the restraint enough to pull my right hand out. I pull my knife from my pocket and slash the other restraint open.

I jump free from the chair and raise my knife, ready to defend myself.

"Let me go," I hiss.

"You know you can't get out of here without me, so I don't know what you're plan is," He smirks.

"Let me go or I will kill you!" I snarl. He throws his head back and laughs.

"You're not in theatre school anymore Honey, I'm not going to be scared by your empty threats, you couldn't hurt a fly," He hisses. "You're not getting out of here. Nobody is going to help you, they probably won't even notice you're missing until morning!"

Anger surges through my veins like a fire. His hand grabs my throat but I have my knife ready.

I raise it to his leg ready to cut when we hear screams outside.

"Rachel!" The faint voices scream. "Where are you? Let us in?"

"Looks like I was mistaken," the doctor mutters. "Either way they can't help you!"

I finally let the built up adrenaline inside of me take charge and I stab him in the leg. "Bitch!" He screams, falling to the ground. He pulls me with him.

"You're not going anywhere!" He pants, grabbing the needle. He points it toward me but my knife is quicker, I knock it out of his hand but he grabs my wrist and the knife falls from my hand, sliding across the floor. He grabs my throat and slams my head against the hard floor, and breathe sdown on top of me, The blood from his leg stains my clothes.

"What are you going to do now?" He asks, but I've already found the answer. I reach out my hand for his pocket again, it is too late before he realizes what i am doing. I pull the black hand gun from his pocket and regretfully pull the trigger, firing a bullet deep into his chest. He coughs helplessly and collapses on top of me. I begin to suffocate underneath him and force him off of me. I stand up over his body as he takes his last few breaths. His chest ceases to move, he is dead. I have killed an actual person. I don't even know how to react.

"Rachel!" The voices continue to scream but they have gotten noticeably louder and more distinct, suddenly the door opens from outside.

The others have somehow opened the door, now they look at me in breathless disbelief.

"Rachel!" Santana cries, her wide eyes filled with horror. "Your face! What happened?"

"How did you get in?" I whisper.

"We noticed you were gone and heard you screaming, we came down here but we couldn't get in. we knew you were in trouble , but Dani knew how to hack the controls system and turn off the scanning system. We then found a spare swipe card."

"Dani?" I ask in amazement.

"My uncle builds these systems, he used to take me to work and show me how they worked, I never thought it would come of use to me, I'm sorry it took so long, hacking into the system takes an incredible length of time, we would have been here sooner if we could have," She breathes.

"Wait," Kurt cries, "The doctor? What happened? Is he dead?"

We gaze at the doctor who lies face down on the floor, his blood forms a pool around him. Beside him is the gun that ended his life. It suddenly occurs to me that I did this.

"I'm sorry," I cry, "I couldn't help- he tried to attack me- he injected-" I begin to pant as the distress begins to kick in.

"He attacked you?" Santana shrieks. "Oh my god!"

I fall into her arms sobbing. "I'm sorry," I cry. I have killed a man, a scientist who was trying to find a cure. I am a murderer.

"No, stop apologising," she whispers. "Don't cry, it's ok, you're safe now."

My knees feel weak and I don't know how much longer I can stand.

"I need to get out of here, " I pant. "Please!"

"Santana, Dani, carry her upstairs, try to calm her down, we'll deal with the body. We can use his swipe card to get out."

I don't realize I'm being swept off my feet. Dani takes me in her arms and Santana helps her to support me. I sob into Dani's shoulders, wishing I could stop but my emotions have taken over.

"It's all over Rachel," Dani tells me as she climbs the flight of stairs to the second floor. "He can't hurt you anymore."

I try closing my eyes but I can see his face in my mind as he kissed me and bruised me with his vicious, groping hands. I am finally laid down and I realise we are in the sleeping room, I have been placed on a bottom bunk.

Santana and Dani look down on me with traumatized expressions and eyes filled with shock. "We shouldn't have left you by yourself, with a complete stranger, we thought we could trust him," Dani says, running an agitated hand through her hair. "We're so sorry Rachel."

I can still feel his invasive touch on me, and the hands that left bruises on my face, throat and chest. He took advantage of me, I dont even know why, he surely wasn't thinking clearly, maybe he was just affected by his girlfriend's death or by the alcohol, but I killed him,"I killed him," I mumbled.

"Rachel!" Santana snaps. "Stop beating yourself up about it!"

"I'm not," I mumble.

"Yes you are, you haven't responded to any of our questions in the last two minutes, you were too busy lost in thought. Listen to me Rachel, that man deserves to be dead. He sexually attacked you, he was a worse monster than any of the creatures outside. You did nothing wrong!"

"Rachel, you said he injected you," Dani asks in a concerned tone, "With what?"

"I don't know," I stammer. "Something labelled X, he said it was ineffective until he injected the virus."

"He was going to inject you with the virus?" Santana gasps.

I nod. "He was going to use us as test subjects."

"Bastard," Dani curses. "That explains his uncanny friendliness."

"It's my fault," I whisper. "I decided that we should go with him."

"Don't say that!" Santana frowns. "You could not have known. But everything's ok now and we're safe."

"Yes and we're so near to Lima now," Dani adds. "We're going to find you your girl."

Quinn was the motivation inside my head that made me survive back there. Now I can't give up, I have to see her and when I do I need to prove to her that I really love her and try to make her understand that I can't go on unless I have her by my side.

There is tense pain building up in my right arm where I was injected, whatever he injected me with is making me drowsy. I can no longer register what Dani and Santana are saying to me. I am trying desperately to keep my eyes open, fearing of what I images I will see inside my mind when I close them, but finally I can no longer do it, and helplessly I am pulled into a deep sleep.

* * *

_"I missed you," An unmistakeably voice whispers gently in my ear. _

_ "Quinn," I gasp._

_ "Well of course it's me," She laughs. "You came all the way to Lima to spend this weekend with me."_

_ I look around my surroundings. I immediately recognise Quinn's living room, it's only occupants are me and her and outside the sun is shining, as children play in the street below, it's like I've been transported back to that weekend._

_ "I missed you too," I say, and embrace her tightly. _

_ "God, I missed those eyes, that smile," she whispers as she brings her lips to mine. She softly kisses me and runs her perfectly manicured hand through my hair. She continues to kiss me, each kiss becoming more passionate, until she seems to be forcing herself on to me._

_ "Quinn! Stop!" I pant as her hand latches itself onto my neck._

_ "Shut up and kiss me," the voice replies, but that is no longer Quinn's voice. I look up to see the bloody face of Dr. Whitherstone as he reaches his hand sout for my body._

_"Did you miss me?" He smiles as he climbs over me._

_ "Get off me!" I cry but he doesn't listen. I scream for my friends but he doesn't seem to be affected_

_"Nobody is coming to save you," he grins wickedly. __ I let out a bloodcurdling scream._

"Rachel! Rachel! Wake up! Please wake up!" A voice is begging me, it's Kurt.

"Come on Rachel, everything is ok, it's just us," Blaine whispers softly. "You're safe now!"

I slowly open my eyes, I am still on my back but we are moving, I realize we are in a vehicle.

"Rachel, are you ok?" Santana asks, looking down at me. I have been spread out across their three laps.

"Where are we?" I ask in panic. "What time is it?"

"It's nine a.m, we're on our way to Lima, we tried waking you up before we left the centre but you were out cold, you had us worried," She answers.

"We've left the centre?"

"Yes, about an hour and a half ago," She replies, she looks at me with concern, as though she has failed me in someway. "It's in the far off distance now. You don't ever have to go back. You're safe and we're going to make sure that nobody else ever hurts you. We're going to keep you safe on the journey ahead of us but all we can do now is keep driving until we get to Lima and see what happens."

I slowly sit up and look out the rear window at the landscape that's behind us. I think it is better that I slept through our leaving the building. I feel slightly better than I did last night, and I can think more clearly. Maybe it is the fact that I have only woken up or maybe it is the warm and protective vibes I feel from my friends, but I feel slightly distracted me from the memories of last night. I feel more energized after all that sleep, I know I'm going to need energy if we're going to survive Lima. We were told it would be difficult but I can still feel adrenaline pumping through me, preparing me for any scenario that comes my way.

"Look at that!" Kurt says pointing to a road sign some metres away, the whited letters have faded but we can still make it out clearly "Lima- 30 miles."

I see Puck tighten up in the seat in front of me, and I wonder if maybe he is just as nervous about this venture as I am. He sighs and breathes the word on all of our minds. "Home."


	13. Chapter 13

The road we travel on is no longer recognisable. There are signs stuck into the dead grass banks on either side of us carrying warning messages such "Stay away" "Zombies ahead" "No return".

"Well that's cheerful," Dani mumbles.

I wonder if Santana told her the truth last night, they are sitting further apart, Dani is now sitting in the front beside Puck, but there is no feeling of the awkwardness or tension that I had expected. I want to say something to Santana but the last thing that Dani deserves is to be humiliated in front of everyone.

"We're almost there," Kurt points out, my whole body tenses with anxiety and there are butterflies in my stomach. I grab my things so that am ready for whatever comes our way once we get to Lima.

"My knife," I "It fell out of my hand in the lab-"

"Here," Blaine says, pulling it from his bag, "Sorry, I forgot to give it you. Do you want me to hold on to it for a while? It's a bit heavy."

I raise an eyebrow. Heavy? "No thanks," I say taking it by the handle.

The knife has been wiped clean of the blood of the man I killed. I smile appreciatively at Blaine for destroying the unwanted reminder. Maybe the events which lie before us in Lima can help me forget about it, although that it is probably unlikely. This could of guilt may float over me forever, until one day either it or I, burst.

I put the knife in back in the cover which still remains in my pocket. "You think we'll be able to drive the whole way into the city?" Dani asks.

"I'm going to try my best," Puck answers. "But if not you guys have to be ready. Everyone is responsible for themselves, our main objective is to find somewhere safe."

"Where are you going to look for them?" Dani questions. I guess none of us had actually thought of that.

"Neighbourhoods could be dangerous," Blaine points out. "Like the scientist said they remember their last human memory, for many of them that might have been going or staying at home."

"He's right," Puck mutters.

"What about McKinley?" Santana suggests. "That would be safe, the school would have been empty. They could hide there easily."

She's right, it would be safe, and there would be everything they need to survive for some time.

"It's worth a shot," Puck replies. "But we got to get through this town first."

Soon the sign that we've been waiting for, appears. "Now Entering Lima, OH." I inhale deeply, we're finally home.

"Be ready for anything," Puck warns.

"Like that!" Santana gasps. Ahead of us are unsteady metal fences, put up to prevent people entering the town and behind those are dozens zombies, groaning and drooling, trying desperately to escape. I look away, in fear I see somebody I know.

"Shit," Puck curses, slowing the vehicle down. Santana suddenly grabs my hand, and squeezes it.

"What are we going to do?" Dani asks. "If we climb them, they'll attack us before we even reach the floor."

"I'm going to drive through," Puck whispers.

"What?" Kurt and I ask in unison but Puck has already reversed.

"Hold on!" He beckons. He presses hard on the accelerator and we speed into the centre metal fence. It hits the car with a bang and we are jolted forward in our seats. The fence crashes to the ground before us as at least three zombies are thrown into the air by the jeep, Puck quickly presses on the accelerator again, rolling over the zombies that have landed on the road.

It's hard to believe that he just did that but he keeps driving as though nothing as happened, behind us, the zombies at the fence begin to follow us but they won't be able to catch up with the speed of the car.

The town is in ruins, buildings have been burnt to the ground while others are boarded up. Bodies are strewn around the place at random, some are zombies and others have been so decayed that only their bones I remain. I gag loudly at the sight.

"Don't look," Blaine whispers in my ear as he places a cold hand over my eyes. I've noticed their treating me much different since last night. They speak with gentler and softer tones with me, they're protecting me like a child. "It's all going to be ok," he assures me.

"Zombies ahead," Puck shouts, "They're blocking the road."

"Oh my god!" Kurt cries.

Will I shoot?" Santana asks, her hand is twitching as she moves it towards her rucksack.

"No, we don't shoot unless it's necessary!" He orders.

"But look," Kurt cries again. "I know who that is!"

I pull Blaine's hand away from my eyes and look around, we're just outside Breadstix, I look to the road and see the small pack of zombies standing there, waiting for us.I immediatley recognise one of them.

"Is that-" I start.

"Zises," Puck whispers. "Come on , we need to get out of the car."

He stops it, grabbing his weapons.

"Grab everything," He warns. He steps out and Dani follows.

"Rachel? Do you want to stay here?" Blaine offers.

"No," I frown and step out of the car behind the others.

"Remember," Puck warns, the zombies begin to stumble over to us. "We don't know them anymore. It's either them or us, just kill them."  
He runs for the first one that comes towards him, decapitating it in one swift shot. Within seconds, he's killing a second.

"I'm getting in on this," Santana mutters and runs with her knife to a child zombie. I look away as I hear her knife cut through the child's skull.

A zombie begins to approach me, he seems crippled already, but his face is so rotted that I can't tell his gender or age. I pull out my knife and hit him in the side of the head with it, he doesn't have much left in him and so he falls to the ground, letting out a horrifying scream.

"Santana!" Dani shouts desperately. "Help me?" She's struggling with Lauren, who is trying furiously to bite her. Dani tries to stab her but her knife is lodged in the zombie's shoulder.

Santana gives a look of uncertainty but runs to Dani's aid and tries to help her. Another zombie comes at me, this one is wearing a bloodied Breadstix waitress uniform, her skin is so rotted that I can see her skull. I slightly hesitate before I hither with my knife but it takes three hits before I break her skull. She falls to the ground, dead. "I'm sorry," I mumble. For all I know she could have served me many times in Breadstix.

"Somebody help us!" Santana shouts. They're still trying to fight off Zises as two other zombies approach them. I run to their aid and lodge my knife in the back of one of the zombies heads but it gets stuck and I can't take it out to help them. Dani is now being chased by the other one while Lauren is now chasing Santana. They are located over five metres apart from each other and too far away from us for us to help anymore.

Dani has suddenly fallen to the ground, the zombie towering over her falls to it's knees and grabs her ankle. "Dani!" I shout. I pull out my gun but she is too far away and I can't get a clear shot of her. "It's ok," She replies through gritted teeth, "I got it."

We hear her cry out in pain, I shriek , fearing for the worst, there is a sudden gun shot and then another.

The big zombie in front of Santana lets out a screech before it falls to the ground. Santana stands there speechless. The zombie at Dani's feet has fallen on top of her, but she forcefully pushes him off, now covered in his blood.

"Are you ok?" I cry running over to them.

"Fine," Dani pants, Blaine runs to her side and tries to help her up, she zips up her jacket wrapping herself up from the cold winds that blow around us. "It's ok!" She insists. "I can do it." She stands up and begins to limp as she makes her way back to the truck, refusing help from Kurt or Blaine.

I walk to Santana's side, she stares at the large body at her feet in shock.

"She saved my life once again," She breathes.

"Did you tell her the truth last night?" I question.

Santana stares back at me with sorry eyes.

"Santana!" I hiss quietly. "You were supposed to tell her!"

"I know! I was going to, but then we heard you scream," She whispers back.

"Come on!" Puck shouts. "They heard the gun shots, we need to go."

We look across the street, as a small hoard of zombies emerge from Breadstix.

"Everyone into the truck now!" Puck orders. We run back to the truck and Puck starts it before the doors have even been closed. He presses on the accelerator and drives away just as the zombies approach the car. Out the rear window, I can see a whole other pack approaching from the distance.

"I'm sorry," Dani whispers solemnly. "I had to shoot."

"You saved my life," Santana whispers. "Again."

"I couldn't let you die," Dani tells her.

Santana leans forward and kisses her on the cheek. "Thank you."

"Dani are you ok?" Blaine asks, "We heard you cry out."  
"Oh yeah," she coughs. "I'm fine, the zombie just fell on my ankle."

"We'll be at McKinley in fifteen minutes, if we're lucky," Puck informs her. "You can rest your ankle there."

"Okay," she smiles, but I can''t help but notice a tone of uncertainty in her voice. I lean over and subtly whisper into Santana's ear.

"You tell her as soon as this car stops!"

Santana nods, her eyes filled with tears.

I think back to Lauren Zises' body, it has only sunk in that I knew her, that she was our friend. But she tried to attack Santana regardless of that. The zombies really have no remembrance of who they are. I am glad we did not had to face anyone else that we once knew. Maybe they're all alive but I can't let myself get too hopeful because it is even more likely that they're all dead.

"Look there it is!" Kurt shouts. "McKinley!"  
We gaze out our windows at the large infrastructure just ahead of us. It's gates have been closed and locked from the outside but there seems to be barricading walls built of sharp wire on the inside too. It looks like someone is or has been inside.

"We're going to have to climb the gate," Puck says, as we reach it. I don't think I've ever seen these gates closed before, the school wa slike a second home to me, it was always so open and welcoming. He brings the car to a halt.

"Bring everything!" He orders, as usual he is first to exit the car but none of us delay to follow this time. Excitement burns through one part of me but anxiety begins to drown it out.

"Dani," Santana whispers, pulling her girlfriend by the wrist. "I need to tell you something."  
"Come on San, we don't have time, we can talk once we're inside," Dani insists.

"Come on, we need to start climbing!" Puck demands. "There's a hoard approaching!"

We look behind us to see a hoard of ravenous zombies slowly but steadily making their way down the road we have just travelled hurry to the ten foot high brick walls beside the gate. Puck hoists himself up first, and reaches his hand down.

"Rachel!" Dani insists. "You go next!"

Before I can refuse, Blaine hoists me up by the legs, I grab Puc's hand who pulls me up.

"Jump down!" He orders. "I'll help the other, but mind the wire!"

I look down at the dead grass ten feet below me, I always hated heights but I know I have to do this. I turn around and lower myself down from the top of the wall and let myself fall on to the grass. I immediatley fall on to my knees, my ankles are too sore from the fall to support me, the row of wire lies before me. I'm going to have get back on to my feet if I'm going to orchestrate a way around this.

Suddenly Santana lands at my side, wincing in pain. "Who built those walls so high?" She mutters. "Oh my god, I can't believe we're back."

"I know," I whisper. She helps me up, the effect of the fall wears off on her quickly. I take a wide step over the knee-high wire. Santana waits behind and awaits the arrival of Dani who lands on the ground two seconds later.

"Are you ok?" Santana asks. "Is your ankle hurting?"

"I'm fine," Dani insists with a smile. "You don't need to worry about me." Dani slowly limps over to the wire, followed by Santana and we wait for the others.

"Blaine! "Kurt cries from the top of the wall. "Please! Climb over!"

"It's not really them Blaine!" Puck shouts. "They don't remember you!"

"Blaine!" Kurt wails. "Come on, we're almost safe! They'll hurt you if you don't get up here!"

I look at Santana in confusion, but whoever is out there, they finally convince Blaine to climb over. The three boys land on the ground together. Blaine's eyes are filled with tears.

"What is it?" I ask Kurt as they step over the wire. We hear a ravenous growling coming from the gates of the school. He points to the gates and I look over. A hoard of at least twenty zombies at rattling angrily on the gates , demanding to get in. At the front, with bloody teeth bared and bloodthirsty eyes, is a face I don't want to see. It's Tina and just over her shoulder is a taller zombie who I take a few seconds to recognise, it's Ryder.

"Tina," I gasp. But that is not the Tina I know or want to remember. It's horrible seeing her like this, but I know there has to be others that I've lost to this fate.

"Come on, let's just get inside!" Dani urges. I look away and fix my eyes on the school just ahead of us. Kurt grabs Blaine's hand and pulls him as we make our way up the road to the deserted parking lot.

I fall back beside Dani, who is limping. "You want help?"

"No, I can manage," she insists. I refuse her wishes and put her arm around my shoulder.

"Thanks," she smiles.

"It's honestly the least I can do," I tell her.

"So this was your school?" She asks, her voice is tired and weak.

"Yeah, well I remember it bit differently," I sigh. She laughs.

"So this is where you and Santana met," she states. Santana falls back at the sound of her name.

"Yeah, we were best friends," I joke, Santana frowns guiltily.

"Oh come on, you guys are like two peas in a pod, I can't believe you used to hate each other," Dani says.

"It's all in the past now," I say. "A lot has happened since then."

We arrive at the main entrance to the school building, but it has been completely barricade with wire, chains and dumpsters. Every window has been chained up too. Whoever is inside did a pretty good job of making sure nobody got in.

"How do we get in?" Santana asks nervously. I share her feelings, the girls we love could be just inside these walls.

"There has to be people inside," I say, "Other wise it wouldn't be so barricaded."

"Come on, around the side," Puck decides. "We'll find someway or other."

We scale around to the side of the building, but the situation is the same. "Maybe we could climb onto the roof and open a window," Puck suggests, I frown in disagreement, there has to be an easier way in. "Come on, somebody help me up, I can break the glass," he says.

"Excuse me?" A voice asks from behind, it is followed by a click of a gun. I am the first to turn around. My gasp is matched by hers, hidden behind the gun, it is her. Her beautiful hair has been chopped into shorter shoulder length locks and her hazel eyes are filled with pain.

"Rachel," She says, lowering the gun to her side. Puck turns around at the sound of her voice. Her widens at the sight of us together. "Puck."

"Quinn," our voices breathe simultaneously.

* * *

**So there you go, I'm sorry about the lack of Faberry moments up to this point. Also I know everyone's getting mad about this Dani/Santana situation. I've had this planned out since the beginning of the story, just please don't get mad with me after the next chapter.**

** Thanks once again for all the support. I appreciate it more than you might think 3**


	14. Chapter 14

Quinn looks from me to Puck, trying to take in what's happening. "Santana, Blaine, Kurt. What are you guys doing here? What were you thinking? Coming back to Ohio?" Her voice is filling with frustration, but her eyes fixed on me. My expression falls, she does not seem pleased to see me.

"We came back to Lima to find our families and friends," Kurt tells her, with optimism in his voice.

How can he still be so hopeful after seeing Tina and Ryder the way they were. Quinn frowns and I immediately know the case is bad.

"Oh," She mutters. "Well let's get inside first."

"Are there others in there with you?" Blaine asks. She nods, but doesn't speak. I know she doesn't want to reveal who is dead. She looks at me briefly, her eyes are expressionless. I can't tell how she feels about my being here.

"Come on," She says, turning her eyes back to the path. "I'll show you the way in."

She leads us around another side of the building, she pulls herself onto a window ledge before pulling herself onto the low roof of one the science labs and opens a window at the side of the second floor.

"Climb up," she instructs.

"You first," Puck tells me. My hands begin to tremble as I climb on to the first window sill. Once I'm standing there I reach up to the roof and try to pull myself up. Her cold hand grabs mine and she pulls me up. Our eyes meet, she eyes me up and down as if she's looking for something or inspecting me. She frowns, confused. She squeezes my hand tightly before letting it go.

"Go inside," She whispers, there is no tone in her voice. It is just an direct instruction. Santana and Dani are next on to the roof.

"Santana," Quinn says, this time I can hear happiness and relief in her voice. "Who is this?"

"This is Dani," Santana stammers.

"Dani?" Quinn questions, before it clicks. "Oh! Your girlfriend from New York."

"And you're Quinn," Dani smiles weakly, "I've heard a lot about you."

I climb in the window, hoping they will follow.

"You have?" Quinn questions in surprise. "You better go inside, I need to help the others up."

I find myself in my old History classroom, although it is preserved under layers of dust. It obviously hasn't been used for any purpose except to enter and exit the building since the outbreak.

The others enter through the window behind me until we are all safely inside. "Come on," she whispers. "I suppose the others will be wondering where I've been. Time to give them a surprise."

She leads us out of the room, carrying her gun over her shoulder. She looks like a force not to be messed with. She leads us towards the stair case bit turns around and looks at Dani.

"You're limping," she points out.

"yeah, I just twisted my ankle or something, it's fine," Dani says, breathlessly.

Quinn nods and proceeds down the stair case towards the choir room. How typical that they would take refuge here. Music really does save lives.

"please don't freak out," Quinn mumbles to the door, I'm not sure who she's talking to. She slowly pushes it open.

"Quinn?" A soft voice asks. "you were gone two hours!"

"Come on, you know some of my searches take longer than others," she sighs, through the gap she's made in the door."

"did you find anything?" The soft voice asks again, her voice is clearer this time and we can hear footsteps coming towards the door. Behind me, Santana gasps in realisation.

"I guess you could say that," Quinn sighs and opening the door fully, letting the sight of our beloved choir room fill our eyes. It's basically the same except with bags and blankets covering the floor as well as familiar faces who gasp at the sight of us. Brittany, Kitty, Jake, Marley. They look at us with vacant expressions, trying to take in what they're seeing.

"Santana," Brittany is the first to speak. " Rachel, Kurt, Puck, Blaine."

"Hi Britt," Santana whispers. I feel her looking at me but I refuse to look back, Santana has led herself into this situation and I can't deal with it right now. I have my own confusions.

"Brittany!" Blaine exclaims, and hugs her tightly. Her face lights up and she hugs Kurt and I tightly before reaching Santana. The ex-girlfriends meet eyes. Santana's eyes are sparkling with nervousness. Brittany pulls her towards her and they hug briefly but tightly, and their expressions of relief fade away as they break apart.

The other three stand up and run towards us.

"What are you doing here?" Marley questions, they all have the same look of disbelief in their tired eyes.

"Noah," Jake breathes. The half brothers clasp hands in a low high-five.

"We came back to find survivors," Blaine answers Marley.

"Is this all of you?" Kurt asks, his face has fallen as he scans the room.

"No," Quinn replies softly and turns with a questioning face to Brittany.

"They're in the faculty lounge," Brittany replies. "They're going to be so happy."

"Come on," Quinn says with knitted brows. There's something she doesn't want to admit to us.

She leads us back through the cold, empty corridor to the faculty lounge at the end of the hall. Through the glass in the door I can see four older figures inside. Quinn opens the door slightly so only she can see inside.

"Quinn," A woman's voice says. "You're back. The others were worried."

"I'm fine," Quinn sighs frustratedly. "I found some people."

"What? In Lima? Where were they?" A stern male voice demands to know, it is not a voice I recognise. I stand on my tiptoes to try to see over Quinn's head and find out who is inside but the small height difference between us stops us from doing so.

"Trying to break into the school," Quinn answers nonchalantly.

"Well did you chase them away?" The man asks bitterly.

"No," Quinn answers, I can almost hear a smirk in her voice as if she takes pleasure out of frustrating him.

"You brought them inside, didn't you? Lucy, what have you done? How stupid can you be?"

Lucy? Nobody calls her that. I don't who she is talking to but I don't like the tone he is using to talk to Quinn, I'm scowling at him from behind Quinn's back.

"I think the others might disagree with you on that," Quinn replies sharply and steps aside.

There are three inhales of shock which are echoed by our own. It's hard to believe that this is real. I freeze and take in the shocked faces of the three women that I recognize, Carol, Maribel and Shelby. My mouth opens in incredulity.

Carol slowly stumbles her way up from the chair she has been sitting in. She walks in our direction with an outstretched hand aiming for my cheek. Her cold palm meet my cheek.

"Is this really happening? Rachel?" She whispers and looks into my eyes.

I nod and the tears begin to spill down her cheeks. "I can't believe this, I was so scared I've never see you again. Maribel, Shelby, come here."

"Lucy," the stern looking man calls. I recognize his face but I can't remember who he is. "Who are these people?"

"Hush Russel," Carol commands. "These are our kids."

She moves from me to Kurt who is trembling with joy beside me.

"Kurt," She cries and almost smothers her stepson in a warm embrace.

"Mama?" Santana croaks , taking a step towards her mother who is standing in front of us, her head turned to the side in confusion.

"My baby," Maribel cries and takes her daughter in her arms before breaking down. "Mi carino. What are you doing here?"

"We came back Mom," Santana sobs and she begins to cry uncontrollably. "Mom, I missed you so much. I was so scared Mom."

"Me too baby," Maribel replies stroking Santana's hair affectionately. They hold on to each other as if they may never see each other again.

"Rachel," Shelby finally says from her chair. Her sorrowful eyes meet mine. She looks tired, weaker and older than the last time I saw her. Stressed even.

"Shelby," the reply that comes isn't from my mouth.

"Puck," Shelby answers and slowly raises herself from the table.

"What are you doing here?" He asks. "I went to find you in New York. I looked everywhere. Where is she? Where is Beth?" That would explain all those ventures he insisted on taking by himself. He really had been looking for Shelby and Beth.

"She is sleeping," Shelby answers quietly, but she looks nervous around Puck, as if she's afraid that he'll take Beth from her.

"Hey!" The man in the room shouts, standing up abruptly. "You're the son of the devil who impregnated my daughter. Aren't you?"

"Leave him alone Russel!" Quinn snaps fiercely, her face fills with anger. Her father glares at her.

I look to Quinn as a painful expression fills her face. It can't have been easy for her. Living with the child she gave away and the father who abandoned her for being pregnant. Her gaze meets mine and I can see the pain in her eyes before she quickly breaks the contact. I don't know her father but I have no respect or no willingness to try to respect him either. I don't understand what sort of father can treat their daughter the way he has treated Quinn. I clench my fists in anger.

"What are you doing here?" Puck repeats ignoring Russel.

"I came here to find Rachel," She answers, catching my full attention.

"Me?" I ask.

"I wanted to congratulate her on her show, I had meant to do it for some time but I decided I would give her some time after the show had finished, I know myself you need time to breathe after a show has finished. So I called by your apartment, but Santana told me you were in Lima for the weekend. So I decided I needed some time away from the city and went to Lima to surprise you but by the time I got there, you were already gone home."

I look to Santana who bites her lip. "I'm sorry, I completely forgot," she says. I turn back to Shelby with widened eyes. I'm in utter shock, she wanted to congratulate me? "You came to my show?"  
"Three times," she admits. "Rachel I can't even tell you how I proud I was." Her eyes begin to tear up and mine imitate.

"The first time I watched you I was so amazed by the beautiful young woman you have become. You were breathtaking. I had to see it again, and then hearing everybody cheer for you, I just wanted to shout to the rooftops: that's my daught-"

She stops before she finishes the words trying to read my expression. I'm confused, taken aback. She never wanted to have a relationship with me, so why is she starting now? What has caused this?

I look around, realizing something is not right.

"Wait," I say profoundly. "This is all of you?"

Carol and Maribel nod with faces filled with fear, they already suspect what my next question will be.

"But Carol," I whisper, as my body begins to go numb. "My dads, you said they were with you."

Kurt looks up in confusion, "Carol, where's Dad?"

Carol hangs her head and begins to sniffle. She is crying again but this time it isn't with joy. She looks up and wipes some of the tears from her face. The expressions around her have turned sullen too.

"We had some problems getting here," She whispers weakly. Blaine, who is now holding her helps her sit down on one of the chairs. "Burt and I had planned to leave with your dads and along the way we met Quinn, Maribel, Brittany and Russel, trying to fight off zombies. They were outnumbered and of course we got out to help them. We didn't have enough weapons to defend everyone so Burt, Hiram and LeRoy tried to create a diversion so we could escape. Burt and Hiram, they got bitten." Carol stops and tries to breathe amid her sobbing. "They told us it wasn't safe for them to be around us anymore and they made us promise we would let them put their life in their own hands. They wanted to die human, not monsters."

Everything inside me shatters. I can't feel my pulse anymore, my heart has broken, again but this time, I don't know how to fix it. "What about LeRoy?" I stammer.

"He said he couldn't live on without Hiram," Carol answers me confirming my worst fears. "We tried to stop him, but they made us promise we would take care of ourselves, that we would escape this and find you kids. They died together Rachel and they told me that if and when I found you, to tell you that they died happy and that they loved you more than anything in the world. And Kurt, your dad, I didn't want to live without him either, but he made me promise I would find you. He wasn't going to let me break it. And it was our intention to find you ids, but we couldn't get out of Lima. It was too dangerous, espeicially with just two guns between us. I'm so sorry."

"But what about the others?" Blaine stammers. "Artie? Sam? Our friends and families?"

Quinn shakes her head. "We never found any of them. Kitty, Jake and Marley just happened to be hiding here when we arrived."

"No!" Kurt shouts angrily before breaking down. "No! Dad!" Blaine quickly takes him into his arms, restraining him.

Carol sobs louder at his reaction. Meanwhile, I'm too numb to react. I'm just an empty shell. I need Quinn but she's too far away. She hasn't welcomed my presence, leaving me presume that I have nothing and nobody left in this world. My dads, my best friends, they're gone.

My head begins to spin and a knot begins to form in my stomach making me feel nauseous. "Rachel?" Quinn's voice asks. "Rachel."

I look up, and see two of her. I take a step forward towards the door, I want to run away from here, from everything. But my knees buckle in from underneath me and I fall into a black world of nothingness.

* * *

I wake up with something cold and damp pressed against my forehead. My head is spinning in pain. "Ow," I groan, and try to adjust my eyes to the bright sunlight shining in from a window at the side of the room. I try to sit up but I am gently lowered back down.

"Woah, take it easy," a gentle voice tells me.

"Quinn," I breathe.

"Are you ok?" She asks, I look into her hazel eyes, they're duller than I remember. She's holding something to my forehead.

"What's on my head?" I ask. "Where am I?"

"It's a wet rag," She confesses, taking the red piece of cloth away from my forehead, it was the best thing we could get for your head since we have no ice. I really hope you don't have a concussion because our first aid supplies are very limited."

"How long have I been out?" I wince.

"Only a few minutes. We're in the nurse's office," she tells me. "Puck helped me carry you, he's outside the door."

I sigh. "Of course he did."

"You look different," She tells me. "Older, fiercer."

"And so do you," I reply. "You cut your hair, why?"

"I got frustrated one day," she answers before pausing.

Her face falls and she stares at me, profoundly.

"What is it?" I whisper.

"I just can't believe you're here. That you're alive."

"Well that makes two of us," I sigh.

"Rachel, I'm sorry about your Dads," She whispers. "They were honestly two of the kindest men I've ever met. I know it can't be easy for you but maybe you can take some consolation in the fact that they died together, when they were happy and that they loved you so much."

I sigh. I know Quinn can;t fully understand what it feels like to lose a dad, she has no relationship with her father and has never felt any true love from him.

"I came to Lima hoping to find so many things." I whisper. "But they're all dead."

"Everything you came looking for?" She questions.

"Yeah," I mumble.

She gazes into my eyes before suddenly pulling my neck towards her. Her lips meet mine, in a passionate, warm kiss which emanates a strong force of desperation. and longing. But I can't help but kiss her back, I run my hands through her new short hair, I feel safe in her embrace.

"Quinn!" I gasp as she pulls away from me.

"I'm sorry," She whispers, edging away from me. "I just needed to make sure that you were real, that you were here. I'm sorry, don't mad with me, I've, I've just missed you so much Rachel. I needed to feel what that felt like again."

I raise a hand and she stops stammering. "Why are you apologising? Aren't you mad with me?"

"Mad with you? Yes I'm mad with you for coming all the way to a place like this, the most dangerous state in the USA! Couldn't you pick from any of the other 49? You put yourself in so much danger. But even so, why would that stop me from kissing you?" She raises an eyebrow before she recalls. " Because of that day? Rachel, I thought you didn't want me anymore."

I look up at her with tearfilled eyes. "No, I do, Quinn, I'm sorry I was just confused and scared, but Quinn please, you have to forgive me.I want you, no I need you Quinn Fabray! I love you."

Her eyes fill with tears. "You do?"

I nod silently. I can see her brave face break down as she chokes up.

"You don't know how long I've been waiting to hear you say that," She replies. The affection from her kiss has begun to take effect inside my body, I can feel part of me come alive again. Quinn actually wants me.

"You don't know how long I've been waiting to say that," I tell her. "I came here to find you, so I could tell you but then you looked angry when you first saw us, I thought you didn't want me here. I didn't know what to do."

"You came all the way to Lima to find me? Rachel you idiot you could have been killed."

"I'm not the only one," I whisper. "Puck has come for you too."

"Puck? But I don't want him," She frowns. "Oh crap, I never told him, he doesn't know."

"No, Quinn he has really changed, he is not the same guy we knew in Glee Club and the small fraction of a heart that he has, it only beats for you. I was so scared that he'd shoot me if I told him."

"Don't worry," She whispers, grabbing my hands, "I'll tell him."

"Be careful," I whisper.

She pulls me closer to her and plants a kiss on my forehead. "You know you've had me so worried this past month, I'm never going to let you leave again." She smiles. I have just pulled away when Dani opens the door, a small, content smile on her face.

"Rachel are you ok?" She asks, her face looks pale and sick.

I nod and smile.

"Quinn, you're being called for outside," She informs Quinn. My face falls, I don't want her to leave, I want her hear by my side, indefinitely.

"By who?"

"Russel?" Dani answers in a faint voice. I can see bead sof perspiration gathering on her forehead. She limps over closer to us.

Quinn rolls her eyes. "What does he want now? Rachel, don't move, I promise I'll be back in a few minutes. Dani, you can look around for some supplies for that ankle if you want."

I watch sadly as Quinn exits the room, I'm not willing to lose her ever again.

* * *

As soon as Dani and I are alone she tugs on sleeve gently as she hoists herself up on to the bed I am sitting on.

"Rachel," She whispers. "I need to tell you something." She's out of breath but something in her eyes tells me that something is seriously wrong.

"What is it?" I ask in a fearful voice, a look of pain comes over her face as her eyes well up in tears. She rolls up the leg of her trousers and throws off one of her heavy boots , revealing a blood-soaked sock. I look at her in horror.

"Dani?" I question but I know what's wrong before she even rolls down the sock to reveal the deep bite mark in her ankle.


	15. Chapter 15

"No," I quiver, "No! How is this happening? That zombie, back there."

"I'm sorry, Rachel, I would have told you guys sooner but I needed to know that Santana was safe." she winces.

"No!" I wail. "Dani, this can't be, no, we need to find someway to stop it!"

"It's too late, "She shakes her head, tears beginning running down her cheek. "I have two options, become a zombie or die before I am taken over by this virus, and the latter is the only plausible one."

"Die?" I gasp through tears.

She half smiles. "It's what I've got to do, remember what the scientist said, zombies remember their last human thought, even I get away from here, I'll return here once I change, the only thing to do is to shoot me. That's the only thing you can do."

"Please Dani," I sob, she takes and my hand and squeezes it.

"Please don't cry, you've done so much for me and I'm so grateful and now I can die among the best friends I've ever had. Just take care of the others. And now, you've got your girl and it makes me so happy knowing that love still exists, I know you'll be okay I know you can take care of everyone Rachel."

"Rachel, Dani?" Santana calls out from the corridor, "Where are you guys?"

She appears in the doorway, and looks at us with a blank expression. "Dani?" She questions. "What's wrong? Why are you guys crying?"

She suddenly freezes in realisation. "No!" She shouts as she's tumble towards us. "No! How did this happen? Dani!"  
"Back at the restaurant," Dani pants, breathlessly, "I needed to make sure you were safe."

"No!" Santana screams hysterically, dropping to her side. "Oh God, Dani. Please, you can't. I can't let you die."

Dani slowly takes Santana's hand in hers. "I know about Brittany."

Santana's face crumbles, "Oh Dani please, I tried telling you, I just-"

"Ssh," Dani silences her. " I overheard you two talking, and I knew you were trying to tell me back at the research building that's why I kept changing topic. I didn't want to let go of you either but now it's okay, I know that you'll be safe and I know that you have someone who will take care of you and love you just as much as I do when I'm gone."

"Dani, please, I am sorry," Santana cries. "I do love you, please, you can't die."

"It's ok," she smiles softy. "It's too late to change anything now. Just give me a gun."

"No!" Santana protests.

"Please," Dani urges. "My last wish."

"Dani," Santana sobs uncontrollably. She is panting so heavily that she can barely speak. "I can't let you go, don't do this."

"yes you can, you saved me and you've gotten me this far, further than I ever imagined, I can die happy knowing I spent my last moments with you."

At that moment, Kurt and Blaine have appeared at the doorway, their faces are washed in confusion as they approach us. Kurt lets out a horrified shriek upon seeing Dani's wound.

"You saved me too,"Santana sobs. "Dani, you deserved so much better than me. It's all my fault."

"Santana," she says, through half closed eyes. Her face looks relaxed and more peaceful now that Santana is at her side. "It's all going to be okay. Everything will work out, everything dies Santana and we can't control that, this disease, this nightmare, it will all die eventually but now, this is my time to die. But everything's going to be okay, because you're home and you found your Mom, and you have the best friends anyone I could ask for."

She looks up at me and smiles at Kurt, Blaine and I. We smile back with tear filled eyes.

"I can't thank you guys enough for everything you've given me these last few days. Love, hope, happiness. I didn't think those things existed anymore. Things will get better," She whispers, facing Santana again. "You just have to promise me you'll keep going. All of you."

"I promise," Santana sobs.

"Good," Dani breathes. "Everything is going to get better, I know it. Hey Santana, do one last thing with me."

"Of course," Santana nods, "Anything."

Dani opens her mouth and smiles before letting out the sweet notes.

_"Here comes the sun_."

Her soft, sweet melodic voice drowns out the silence and the devastation, she raises a hand to Santana's face who continues with the next part "_Little darling, it's been a long cold lonely winter."_

A soft smile appears on Santana's face as Dani continues in a weaker voice,

"_Little darling, it feels like years since it's been here_

_Here comes the sun  
Here comes the sun, and I say  
It's all right"_

The two begin to sing in harmony as the rest of us look on, blinking through the tears and we can feel the love and affection radiating from them. The music is so raw and emotional that it draws us in and makes us forget reality.

_"Little darling, the smiles returning to the faces_  
_Little darling, it seems like years since it's been here_  
_Here comes the sun"_

Dani takes a deep breath , her voice has finally failed her but she motions for Santana to continue on. Santana sniffs before bravely finishing.  
_"Here comes the sun, and I say __It's all right"_

We can't contain our cries anymore, but we're not the only ones, we hear sniffling behind us. I look over my shoulder, Maribel, Brittany and Quinn are standing at the door, Santana's mom is sobbing softly. Puck is watching in from behind, his face is appalled, he doesn't know how to react.

"Thank you," Dani croaks. "I need to go outside and find some place safe to shoot myself."

"Let me come," Santana begs. "I can't let you die alone."

"Santana," she murmurs.

"Please?"

Dani sighs and nods weakly. "Ok."

"Quinn," I sob, turning to her, her face is grief stricken even though she didn't know Dani. "Is there somewhere we can take her?"

She nods, "outside, I know a place."

"Rachel?" Dani whispers.

"Let us carry you some of the way at least," I offer. "You're too weak to walk."

Dani smiles appreciatively. "Thank you."

Quinn steps forward. "I'll help."

I slowly stand up and out my around Dani's shoulders, to lift her up, but I'm weak, I know I can't carry her by myself.

"It's okay Rachel," Quinn offers," I can take her."

She takes Dani in her arms, and picks her up with out any problem. She has gotten strong.

"Let me help," Puck offers approaching us.

"No Puck, we don't want to overcrowd her," Quinn tells him. "Rachel and I will bring her some of the way, then we will wait for Santana to come back to us."

I look uncertain, Santana is so traumatized that I'm afraid she won't come back to us.

"Dani," Kurt sobs as we carry her away. Dani looks up at them with a faint smile.

"I love you guys, and I don't say that to boys too often," she jokes. "Thank you for everything."

Kurt sobs before kissing her on the forehead, Blaine copies. "We love you Dani," Blaine whispers. Maribel and Brittany step aside as we move through the door. They both squeeze Santana's hand in reassurance.

"Puck?" Dani croaks. "Can I have a gun?"

"I'm sorry Dani" Puck mumbles as he hesitantly hands her a hand gun from his back pocket.

"I'll take it," Santana says taking it from her.

"Wait, it's not loaded," Puck tells us, pulling a box of ammunition from his bag.

"Just give me one," Dani insists, I can see Santana frown but I sigh with relief, I was afraid she might have intentions of dying too. Puck loads one bullet into the hand gun before handing it back to Dani who clenches it tightly.

"Thank you Puck," Dani smiles. "For everything."

"Rachel, you dropped your knife when you fainted, you might need it," He offers holding out my sheathed knife, I nod gratefully as I take it from his hand.

Quinn leads us down the silent corridor. Santana is trembling beside me, I link her arm and she cries softly into my shoulder. "It's all my fault," she cries.I stroke her hair in comfort but I don't know what to say. I wish that e could have prevented this. Dani is the sweetest and kindest people alive, she saved us all. She doesn't deserve to die. She doesn't deserve any of this.

We walk up the stairs and follow Quinn to the room we entered through.

"Rachel, Santana, open the window and go outside, I'll pass Dani to you."

We dip our heads as we obey, I push the window open and climb out, helping Santana onto the small flat roof. She reaches back in through the window and helps lift Dani out.

Dani raises her hand to shield her eyes from the bright sun. "Ugh," she groans. "The sun, so bright, so hot." Santana looks at me worryingly.

"Please," Dani continues. "Let me climb down myself? It's too difficult for you, I can manage."

"Are you sure?" Quinn asks.

"Yes!"

I climb down to the floor first, followed by Santana who stays on the window ledge to help Dani down, before the two of them gently climb down together.

Quinn takes Dani again, her ankle is too weak for her to walk far. "Wait!" Dani hisses abruptly as she inhales.

"What is it?" Santana asks.

"That smell," She breathes with a hint of wanting in her voice

We frown at her. "What smell Dani?" I ask.

She inhales again, this time looking up at me with widened, glistening eyes, before her mouth drops open in horror. "Oh God no," She mumbles. "You have to get me out of here, now."

"Dani?" Santana cries, but I know what's happening, she has begun to turn.

"Now!" She demands before changing her tone. "Please."

"Come on," Quinn warns as we head towards the courtyard.

"Where are we going?" I ask.

"There's a place over beside the football field, just outside the school fence, Santana you know it, we used to skip algebra and make out with jocks when we were juniors, but it's surrounded by wire so no zombies can get in, it's where we buried the others," Quinn whispers. "Under a tree. We left a shovel there."

I stare at her in disbelief, they have begun to build their own graveyard and my Dads are buried there. The thought of burying Dani, who is beside e, being buried within an hour, I shudder at the thought. This can't be real.

Santana breaks down crying. "No!"

"Ssh Santana," Dani whispers, "It's okay, that's fine. I love trees and the outdoors, I told you that, remember?I'll be happy and safe there. You can do it, I know you can."

"We have to be quick," Quinn informs us quietly. "They become unconscious before they fully turn."

"Well I want to die before that happens," Dani decides and we continue toward the football field and cross it quickly, coming to the fence.

"Let me take her from here, I can get her over the fence, please, I need some time alone with her," Santana pleads as we reach the fence, a small peaceful wood lies behind it."I want to be with her until the end." Dani smiles at the thought.

I nod understandingly, I would want my last few moments to be spent the person who held my heart, or in Santana's case, part of it. "Ok," I whisper, I realize this is goodbye.

Dani takes my hand. "Goodbye Rachel, you are one of the biggest stars I've ever met and I know you can be the light that guides everyone through this. Take care of Santana and everyone."

"Thank you Dani, I'll never forget you," I sob before I kiss her on the cheek. I slowly let her hand slip out of mine, without wanting to let go.

"And Quinn, I'm sorry we didn't get to know each other, but I know you'll take care of Rachel and give her the love she deserves, I know that she loves you with all her heart, you have to believe me."

"I do," Quinn smiles. "Thank you for bringing her to me."

"I'll take her ," Santana insists, taking Dani from Quinn's arms. "Can you wait for me, at the courtyard?"

I frown doubtfully, that's a few minutes walk away, I thought we'd just be waiting on this side of the fence. Santana was suicidal two weeks ago, I don't know how she will react to Dani's death. Even if she has nothing to kill herself with, I am scared. "Will you be ok?"

"Yes," she insists. "But I'm going to need some time," She whispers sadly, wiping tears from her face.

I sigh unsure, "We will come looking for you if you take too long ok?"

"Fine, but give me a while," She replies.

"Scream if you need help," Quinn instructs her and Santana nods tearfully. Dani waves weakly at us, and flashes her kind, warming smile at us as Santana turns her back to us and proceeds towards the fence. I'm overwhelmed with emotions now, the only consolation I can take from this right now is that Dani gets to die her own way, like my Dads did. It surely wasn't their choice to be infected in the first place but at least they died with people around them. I'll never forget her, her bright smile or her warm heart. She was one of the greatest friends I've ever had, i only wish she was in our lives longer.

We wait there watching until they have climbed safely over the fence. Then my tears really begin to flow.

"Hey," Quinn whispers soothingly, grabbing my hand. "Come on, let's go sit down."

She has to half drag me to the courtyard where we sit down at a table. She wipes the tears from my eyes with one soft touch of her thumb.

"Are you ok?"

"No," I whisper. "She didn't deserve to die. She was too good, too kind. Anybody but her."

"She will be in a better place now," Quinn assures me. "Maybe it's fate, maybe we're left here for a reason."

"Like we're being punished," I murmur.

She stares at me. "That would explain why my dad is here. But what about us? Rachel, I haven't smiled in a month and a half but ever since you showed up I can't stop. I had forgotten what happiness was, what love was."

"No," I shake my head. "I couldn't be happier now that you're by my side, but we've lost so many people. My dads, our friends, families. Our homes."

"I don't need anybody but you now," She tells me, she reaches a hand out and pulls my head to face her. "We will get through this Rachel, something will come out of all of this, what, I don't know, nobody does. We probably are here for a reason but you've come back to me and that's as good a sign as any. I am hopeful for the future now, whatever comes our way will happen because it is meant to."

I half smile at her. "How did you become so strong?"

"Physically?" She asks.

"And emotionally."

"Well ever since we got here, I've been getting away from everyone, just for an hour a day. It started out with me going out on searches for weapons and supplies, even though we have more food than we need in the cafeteria, but I was also searching for people, I just kept hoping that I would somehow find you. But sometimes I just go to the place where we buried your Dads and Burt, and I would talk to them and pray that they would bring you to me."

"I guess it worked," I mumble.

"I learned to deal with my emotions when I was by myself, I learned how to suppress my sadness, my distraught and all the frustration. There's this tree I used to just hit with an axe to release all my anger."

"That would explain the physical bit," I mumble. "Were you angry with me?"

She frowns. "Maybe at first but I was angry at myself for letting you go, for pressuring you into something you weren't ready for. And my dad. Of all fucking people that could run into before an apocalypse. Rachel, it's his fault your dads died, if he had stayed behind and helped they would have fought off all the zombies. I can't look at him anymore Rachel, I can't even stay in the same room as him. I try get out of there as much as I can. The sight of him makes me sick. Rachel, I'm not the same girl I was when you last saw me, I've found and killed zombies out of frustration. It's the zombies or my dad, and I don't want to be a murderer."

The words stab me like a thousand knives, I lose control of emotions and the regret swallows me. "Quinn," I whisper.

Her jaw drops open. "Rachel? You killed someone?"

"I didn't mean to," I tell her. "He had attacked me, I was just fighting back."

"When? What happened?"

"Before we came here, he was a scientist, he was attacking me, he took me to this laboratory," I say, my head fills with the chilling images and I shudder.

"It's okay, we don't have to talk about it, Rachel," she whispers grabbing me by my shoulders, I move away from her as her hands squeeze down on the hidden bruises left on my skin by the docotr. I don't want to talk to her about this, not yet. She moves forward to kiss me on the lips. I edge away immediately, resisting her touch.

"Wait," I insist. "He could be watching?"

"You're really worried about him," She murmurs. "What's wrong?"

"You sent Puck to us," I mumble, without answering her question. "That's why I thought you were back with him."

She shakes her head. "I wanted him to be safe like I wanted all of you to be safe, so I told him your address, in case you were still there, at least that way you'd be safe together, and believe me I didn't think you'd try to come back to Lima. What has he done that makes you so frightened of him Rachel? Just tell me please."

I sigh. "When the city began to shut down and we could hear people screaming and dying outside he decided he was going to take charge of us, to make sure we would all stay alive. But then suddenly it was like he got a brain transplant, he became so authoritative, so strict, he lost all sense of fear and happiness. He used to go on these ventures around the city. His only goal seemed to be getting to you. He told us it was survival of the fittest and we couldn't help those who fell behind. He just adapted to everything so quickly. And then at the border, we met this group."

"A group? Trying to get in?"

"No, they got out," I tell her. "But they tried to steal our weapons and Puck, he refused and then he, well he killed their leader."

"He killed him?" Quinn's eyes widen.

"It was so quick, so unexpected, we had to leave the body there," I whisper. Quinn shakes her head in disbelief but my

"Rachel I promise he won't hurt you, I won't let anyone hurt you," she tries to reassure me but it's too late for that. The recent events are too much, too consuming, the doctor, my Dads dying, and Dani, the girl who saved all of us, dying in the arms of the girl who couldn't return the love Dani gave her, and the last song they sang together that temporarily removed all the pain. I'm hurt beyond healing, I'm broken.

* * *

_**Oh my! **_

_**First of all, PLEASE don't kill me, I'm so sorry, guys please don't hate me. Please? I love Dani, I expressed so many of my views for her through Rachel. I do love her and I'm sorry I did this to her, I considered changing it after all the comments I got, but I have had this story planned for quite some time, I didn't want to go changing everything, I have some of the later chapters written already, it's just the in between chapters I need to write. And at the moment, it looks like I'm going to have to write a sequel...**_

_** I'm considering writing a Dantana story after this, probably horror/apocalyptic so please guys, don't hate me?**_

_** Sorry for the abrupt ending, I didn't want it to get too long, next chapter could be some time, I have a lot of schoolwork.**_

_**Disclaimer: I do not own Glee or any of its characters, I also do not own the lyrics of "Here Comes the Sun," they belong to an amazing group that changed music forever.**_


	16. Chapter 16

The dull, silent sky fills with the sudden, faint sound of a gunshot in the distance. "No!" I whisper, as my whole body tenses up. I'm not even sure how I should react.

"Rachel," Quinn whispers, sliding a comforting arms over my shoulder, her warm embrace feels right. It's exactly what I need right now.

"It's over," I mumble. "She's safe now."

"Yes she is," She murmurs. I let one small tear fall from my cheek and sit in silence for a moment, reflecting on the girl that made these past few days a bit more tolerable. "You know, when she started singing, something warm just spread through me, it felt like hearing music for the first time. I had forgotten how powerful music is, I don't think I'll ever be able to forget that voice."

"Me either. We were lucky to find her," I sigh. "You know we found her in this gas station with some crazy religious folks, she saved us, she made them let us in when zombies were chasing us. She'd be living with them a month, they were really homophobic. They threw us out when they found Dani and Santana making out."

Quinn looks at me in horror, her eyes widened. "Are you serious?"

I nod solemnly. "It was horrible."

"In this world," Quinn whispers. "That's just disgusting."

"I know," I mutter. "Dani had to live with parents like that before she moved to New York, it must have been a nightmare for her to spend a month with those people in such a small space."

"What is it with parents these days?" Quinn growls. "Why is it so hard to be accepting of your kids? One little mistake and those past sixteen years of your daughter being your sweetheart are irrelevant, she becomes the scum underneath your feet and she will never be anything more than that. Fucking idiot."

I look at her with concerned eyes, it must be horrible for her, spending all this time with the man that disowned her for getting pregnant. Whatever her father has been doing to upset her, I'm going to make sure it stops.

"Has he hurt you?" I ask, concerned. I won't stand for it if he has laid a finger on her.

"Not physically," Quinn sighs. "But in other ways, now you're here, maybe I can finally forget about him."

"I'll do my best to help you," I whisper and I place a small,caring kiss on her cheek. It makes me nervous to do so, in case Puck is watching us from somewhere, but I've missed being able to give her affection. It seems like she feels the same. She suddenly takes me and pulls me into her, kissing me forcefully. In that one kiss, I can feel the anxiety, the hurt and the anger she has been living in this past month. I want to help her forget it al just like I need her to help me forget what I've been through.

"Oh, Rachel?" She calls in a softer tone as I lean my head on her shoulder.

"Mm?"

"You know Shelby has been really worried about you," She whispers.

"She has?" I ask, looking up at her curiously. "Why?"  
"I don't know, I guess she regrets her past," she shrugs. "It looks like she was really trying to rekindle with you. She told me how she came here to find you. She's been so worried, crying everyday. You know she's been the only one I've really talked to since we got here."

"Really?" I ask in surprise, Quinn and Shelby, they never seemed to get along before.

"Yeah, I mean Kitty, Marley and Jake, they just keep to themselves and let Brittany in sometimes, I try everything I can to avoid my dad and then Maribel and Carol are always together, I'm still that girl that broke Carol's son's heart, so I don't bother them. It's even been hard communicating with Brittany, she's the one that tries to keep everyone's spirits up, keeps the hope alive, but with you gone, I just couldn't listen to that. So I noticed Shelby crying in the choir room on one of our first days here, she said she was worried about you she had seen your dads die, she was scared you were dead too. She told me she regretted not trying to begin a relationship with you. She wishes she could have seen you grow up to be who you are now. She was terrified that she would never see you again. I told her about us, about how my fears were the exact same as hers. We've talked now and again, mainly about you, but it's hard to be around her sometimes, with Beth."

"Beth," I mumble. "That can't have been easy for you."

"It wasn't at first but seeing Beth with Shelby and seeing that Shelby gives her, I know I could never have been that mother. I was too selfish when I was pregnant, Beth was better off with Shelby as a Mom. Beth is a beautiful, smart little kid, she never would have been like that if I had kept her. Shelby and Beth make each other so happy, they deserve each other. I would never be able to keep up the strength tat Shelby does, she keeps Beth completely oblivious to the fact that the world around her is crashing down, her main priority is to keep her alive and safe even if that puts her own life at risk," She turns her head to face the hard ground at our feet. "It's funny how everything works out. Your mom adopted my daughter who Finn thought was his, then you were there to comfort him when it wasn't, now there's you and I."

"You've said it before, everything happens for a reason," I murmur.

"Yeah, " She mumbles. "Rachel, I know you've told me before that there would never be anything between you and Shelby, but I want you to give her a chance, she really wants to be in your life, in any way possible. And I know that somewhere deep down you want that too.I see the way she protects Beth and I think she would protect you like that too. I want you to be safe."

I look at her in uncertainty, she's right, part of me has always wanted to feel the love of a mother, or to have Shelby in my life. Maybe I can give it a chance, maybe we will both gain from it.

"I can take care of myself you know," I whisper defensively.

"I know," Quinn whispers, I see her staring at my knife.

"What about your mom?" I ask to distract her. "Do you think she's okay?"  
"Well I just have to hope so," Quinn frowns. "There's so many people I wish I knew the whereabouts of. And then there's the others, the ones that have been changed."

"We saw Tina and Ryder," I tell her. "At the gates."

"I know," She replies. "They come here everyday, just that hoard, I think some of those with them were students too, and teachers, it's hard to tell because most of their faces have been torn off or rotted away. Maybe it would be better if they were just dead."

"I think death is the better option. If I get bitten, I would like to go like Dani, at least my death would be somewhat dignified."

"What if there's some type of cure?" Quinn whispers. "Death rules out any chance of a person getting better."

Chills run up my spine as I think back to the scientist, his needles and his experiments. I shake my head. "Please, let's not talk about this, I don't want to think about this right now." Without meaning to, I have built up a tone of anger in my voice.

"I'm sorry," Quinn mumbles, "I hope Santana's okay."

"Santana," I gasp. "We have to find her."

"Maybe we should give her some more time?" Quinn suggests.

"She's been gone a while now," I shake my head. "She tried to kill herself three times before we left our apartment in New York."

Quinn's face is overcome with shock. "What? She did? Why? Rachel, how come you didn't tell me?"

"Because of Dani and Brittany,I forgot," I pant,"please,can we just go find her?"

"Okay," Quinn nods, her face is still in shock "You have your knife?"

I nod but just as we stand up to leave, a figure appears across the courtyard, their head is bowed. It's Santana. As she comes closer we can hear her sobbing. We cautiously walk over to her, she carries the now-empty gun in her hand.

"Santana?" I offer, taking her by the arm. She looks up at us with sorrowful eyes.

"She's gone," She whispers. She straightens herself up, wiping tears from her guilt-filled face. I can't help but feel sorry for her.

"Come on," Quinn says. "Let's get back inside, it's getting too cold out here, you guys need some food and rest."

* * *

We re-enter the building and silently follow Quinn back downstairs. We find that everyone has gathered in the choir room., the door has been left open. The atmosphere is calmer than when we left, somehow relaxed, everyone is too tired to grieve, Kurt and Blaine sit in one corner with Carol and Maribel, while the three students are sitting on the floor in a circle talking to Shelby, who anxiously glances over to Brittany and Puck who are gently playing with a little blonde girl with bright, young eyes. The small smile she wears on her face has spread to the faces of the two people surrounding her. It's been so long since I last saw Puck smile. He looks calm and content, he looks like the boy from glee club again as he takes Beth and spins her around in his arms.

She giggles in a high pitched tone and he echoes her. A sense of relief washes over me, maybe Beth is the key to keeping Puck happy. Maybe she is the one that he has been really looking for and he can let go of Quinn now. Behind me, Quinn is frowning as she watches her ex-boyfriend play with their child. In the corner of the room, Russell sits peacefully by himself reading some sort of school book.

But there is a sweet , low sound coming from the room, it's faint but it adds so much to the light atmosphere of the room. I realize it's coming from Maribel, who is humming a soft but sweet tune. Quinn raises an eyebrow at me. "Music," She breathes. "That's a first. Every since we've been here, nobody has sung, or hummed or even whistled. Everyone has forgotten about music, until today."

Quinn clears her throat and we have suddenly been noticed by everyone in the room. Maribel stands up, and walks over to take her daughter in an embrace.

"Come on baby," She says as she leads Santana to a chair.

"Rachel," Shelby whispers, getting up. She paces towards me. "Are you okay?"

"Yes I'm fine," I frown confused as to why there are tears welling up in her eyes.

"We worried that time alone probably wasn't the best thing for you right now," Kurt pipes up. I raise an eyebrow in horror and turn back to Shelby.

"Rachel, I can't believe that somebody would hurt you, like that, it's horrible. Do you need treatment for any injuries? Please if there is anything you need just let me know." She whispers so lowly that only Quinn and I can hear. Her eyes are filled with compassionate, concerned tears.

Quinn turns to me, frowning. She is expecting an answer and I was not planning on talking about this to anybody.

"Kurt," I grit my teeth. "What did you say?"

"I'm sorry Rachel, we were just worried," He whispers defensively. I look around and notice everybody's eyes fixed on me, they all have the same pitiful look in their eyes.

"So now everybody knows?" I gasp, he nods nervously, I bite down on my lip trying to hold back the tears.

"Rachel I'm sorry!" He exclaims but I turn my back and pace out of the room. I can't believe Kurt would do that, how could he tell everyone? Now I'm going to be the girl that everybody takes pity on, the weak girl who can't even defend herself. I don't need their sympathy or their pity. I got myself into that mess and I unfortunately had to get myself out of it too.

I run for the girls' restroom, I can hear my name being shouted from behind, I push open the door then lock it once I'm inside so I have the whole place to myself. I allow myself to fall down on to the ground. I rest my head against the door of one of the empty stalls and cry. The room is dark, I didn't even switch on the lights, I suspect they have some sort of electricity, the school does have generators. They've certainly kept themselves safe, in a building this size it can't have been easy but they managed somehow or other.

If only I had stayed in Lima, none of this would have happened, I would have been here from day one and maybe, my dads would still be alive too. I could have told them about Quinn and I, I think they would be proud, or happy for me at least, but now I'll never know.

"Rachel," there is a soft rapping on the door and a soft voice follows it. "It's just me, can you please talk to me."

It's Quinn. I don't want to talk to her about this, I was going to tell her, in my own time. I didn't want her to find out about this from anybody else. I slowly lift myself off the ground and shuffle slowly towards the door but it creaks open. Quinn peers in.

I look at her with a questioning expression, how did she get in here? She lifts up a brass key, "Skeleton key," she answers my unvoiced question. I sit back down on the ground.

"It's dark in here," She mumbles, and switches on the lights.

"Lock the door," I tell her. I don't want to face anybody else right now. She slowly approaches me and sits down beside me.

She faces me, I can't tell from her expression whether she's annoyed or concerned, probably both. "Rachel."

Here it comes. I don't know what she's going to say but I really don't want to have this conversation.

"I'm sorry," I mumble. "I was going to tell you, eventually."

"What did he do to you?" She asks. Her expression changes to a quiet, scared one as she poses the next question in a whisper. "Rachel, did he, did he rape you?"

"No," I whisper through tears. "He just grabbed hold of me and held me down so he could kiss me and grope me."

"Rachel," She mumbles in shock. "Can I see?"

I gently pull down the collar of my shirt, revealing the concealed bruises on my collar bones and shoulders. I roll up my sleeves, showing her the blotches of black and blue on my wrists from where he grabbed on to me tightly and where the restraints had me tied.

I can see something burning in her eyes as she curls her top lip. She inhales deeply as if to calm herself. "And that red mark on your face?" She asks slowly. referring to the mark under my cheekbone which I had forgotten about.

"He hit me," I mutter shamefully.

Quinn looks at the ground. "I know you said you were attacked, I just could never have thought that it was in that way. You killed him right?"

I nod regretfully. "Good, because if that bastard was still alive I would track him down and torture him, even if it meant I got killed in the process," She hisses, I look at her in astonishment, I've never seen her so angry. "How dare he fucking touch you! Rachel, a scientist? What were you thinking? They caused this whole thing!"

I cower at her angry tone. "I'm sorry," I breathe, "I wasn't thinking, I just wanted to get back here. I didn't know he would do that!" I protest.

She raises a hand to her forehead. "Fuck, I'm such an idiot, Rachel I'm sorry I didn't mean to shout at you, I'm just angry. You got hurt and if I hadn't let you go that day that would have never happened! Where were the others? Why weren't they there to help you?"

"It's not their fault Quinn, they went to sleep, I was restless and upset, it's not easy being among people in love when you don't know the fate of the person you're in love with, or if they're even in love with you anymore. The doctor said he would show me his laboratory and I had nothing better to do. He was asck man but I didn't realize that until it was too late. He was trying to work on a cure, and I was going to be his test subject. He was going to inject me with the virus Quinn."

She gazes at me horrified. "The virus? But why? Oh my God, Rachel , I can't even imagine how scared you must have been. Fucking psycho. Rachel , I promise, I will never let another person even touch you. And I swear, if they do, I will make sure they suffer."

"Please Quinn," I mumble. "I don't want people's opinions of me to change, I'm not completely helpless you know."

"I know, " she sighs, "I'm sorry. I just can't bear the idea of you being hurt."

"It was horrible," I admit, wiping a tear from my eye. "You know what helped me through it?"

"What?" She asks, her tone is calmer, softer.

"You," I say. "I could hear you in my mind, telling me to fight back. I probably would have given up otherwise, but I wasn't going to let him stop me from reaching you.

She grabs my hand. "Well we're in this together now, we will protect each other. I swear to God Rachel I will never let you go."

"And now my Dads are gone," I sob. "If you were gone too, I really couldn't live on. Life would just be pointless."

I lay my head against her shoulder and she gently caresses my hair. "Don't you dare speak like that Rachel, I'm never leaving your side. I'm sorry i didn't tell you before but I told your dads about us."

"You did?" I ask fearfully. "Quinn! Why?"

"It was before they passed. Rachel, they were so worried about you, I wanted them die with some peace of mind, I told them about us and what you meant to me, and that I would find you. I know we never left Lima but Rachel we tried, on every single one of my journeys I tried finding someway t get out of Lima but it just seemed impossible. Anyway, they told me they were happy, that they wanted you to find love again, they asked me to take care of you and to keep you alive when we were reunited and I promised I would and it's a promise I'm going to keep. I visit them every day or two, I've been praying , asking them to give me the strength to find you."

I smile momentarily, I'm glad my dads knew, I wish I could have been able to them myself though. Maybe it gave them some solace before they died. I'm grateful to Quinn for being there in their last moments and for continuing to look over them.

"Are you okay?"

"I'm just worried about what the others will think of me," I sigh. "I didn't want anyone to find out."

"Look it wasn't your fault and you defended yourself, you're not weak Rachel and if they think otherwise, then screw them." Slowly she reaches a hand towards my shirt.

"Quinn?"

"Can I see what he did to you?" She asks. I look at her nervously but I nod as she slowly begins to unbutton my shirt. From my shoulders to my stomach there are scattered bruises I didn't even realise were there, they must have been from when he was leaning on me. They're hideous, I see Quinn frown in disgust.

"They're horrible," I fluster, and begin to button up my shirt again.

"No they're not," She insists. "You're beautiful Rachel, you always have been and you always will be."

I wince at her compliment and she laughs, placing a soft kiss on my forehead. She suddenly runs her fingers over the bruises on my collar bones, but I instantly jerk away.

"Quinn please," I plead. I wasn't scared of her touch until now, all of a sudden the memories are coming back and I can feel his touch all over again. "Quinn please, don't touch me!" I pant.

"Rachel," She whispers calmingly. "Don't you trust me? I'm not going to hurt you ok? It's just me Rachel. You're safe."

I watched suspiciously as she moves her lips down to my neck and kisses me. My whole body is overtaken by the warmth of her kiss. She slowly moves her lips up my neck until they land on my lips. All the pain that the scientist put me through is nothing compared to this warm, bright energy Quinn has. All I can feel is her and the love she has for me and I want nothing more than to return it. I know that this is right, that we were meant to be reunited. Her kiss is magical, it has healing powers. My fingers grab onto a rough, chopped lock of hair and I kiss her back passionatley.

"I told you," She whispers. "You're safe here with me, and I will make sure that the only one to touch you is me. We belong together Rachel."

I turn to look at her. "I love you Quinn Fabray," I sigh.

"And I love you Rachel Berry," She smiles. "Come on, as much as I love sitting in the girls bathroom with you, the others will be wondering what's keeping us. Let's go get some food, then you should get some rest, you can bunk with me." She grins mischievously. I can't help but grin back.


	17. Chapter 17

Quinn slowly unlocks the door and offers her hand to me. "Come on let's go."

I look blankly at her hand, "But Puck," I point out.

"I don't want you worrying about him anymore," She replies,"I'm going to tell him now. We shouldn't have to hide this."

I bite my lip and she sighs with a smile, "Come on Rachel, it'll be fine," She urges, she grabs my hand and has to pull me with force from the room into the darkened corridors. I inhale deeply, I'm nervous about what the others will think, but Quinn's right, we shouldn't have to hide our relationship. I spent the last month thinking I could have lost her because I had been afraid to show my commitment, I'm not willing to do that again. I love her and I need her to know that. I clasp her hand and she smiles at me, her hazel eyes sparkling.

"Okay," I mumble, the thoughts of facing that room again is still a daunting one. I can see their eyes regarding me with pity, but I can't let them do that to me. I can not let this incident define me, I am stronger than they think even if there is a part deep inside of myself telling me that I am weak.

"The others will be worried, I seriously can't go anywhere without them fretting about me," Quinn sighs.

"We should tell Puck first," I say, "He shouldn't have to find out with everyone else. We can tell the rest of them later, if we survive."

"I suppose that's fair," Quinn agrees. "Okay but I'll tell him by myself, this is not your mess to sort out. I should have been upfront with him ages ago."

"Are you sure?" I ask with knitted eyebrows, I don't want her to get hurt if Puck lashes out in a fit of rage.

"Puck won't hurt me," She says nonchalantly, but she doesn't know the Puck that I've known for the past month.

"Quinn," I mumble nervously.

"Rachel I will be fine! And you will be too," She smiles reassuringly, kissing me on the cheek. She points to the door of the choir room in front of us, this time it's closed. I anxiously let go of Quinn's hand as she opens the door. The others are sitting around the room just like they were before I left, except Carol, Russel and Shelby are missing. To my surprise and relief, Santana and Brittany are at complete polar opposite ends of the room, Santana's tired, weary head in placed on her mother's shoulder.

"Rachel, Quinn," Maribel smiles. "Carol and Shelby have just gone to prepare some food."

"And Russel?" Quinn asks as we draw closer to Santana and her mother, and Maribel frowns. "He left a few minutes ago, he said he needed alone time."

"Alone time! Remember how that turned out last time? I thought we said weren't going to let him do that again!" Quinn rolls her eyes in annoyance, she sounds so authoritative "Now I have to go find him."

"Puck," she calls across the room. Puck is holding Beth in his arms with Brittany watching on cautiously as though instructed to do so. "Will you help e find my dad?"

Puck shrugs and places Beth gently into Brittany's arms. "Okay, let's go," he says, his tone is softer, calmer than it has been before. It seems to have an emotion in it that isn't anger or annoyance.

I glance up at Quinn with wide eyes. She grabs Santana by the wrist and whispers in her ear, loudly enough for me to hear. "Take care of her while I'm gone."

"Of course," Santana nods. She pulls out a chair for me to sit on. "You ok?" She whispers in my ear as I sit down.

I nod once as I watch Quinn lead Puck outside the door, closing it behind them. I notice how much more confident Quinn seems to be here, she is afraid of nobody, maybe she is their Puck, their leader.

"Blaine and Kurt are scared that you're mad with them," Santana tells me.

"I am," I answer. "They had no right to tell everybody that."

"I know and I would be mad too, just don't take it out too hard on them," She replies. "Also Shelby is pretty upset too. She's really sorry."

I sigh and change the subject. "Are you ok?"

She shakes her head. "I just need time to process it all," She whispers and I nod understandingly. I've been there, I respect the fact she needs space, I'm just glad she hasn't run into Brittany's arms, it would not be fair on Dani.

The door creaks open and Carol appears, "Food is ready," she says quickly before disappearing. Maribel stands up first, and pulls Santana on to her feet.

"Where are going Mom?" Santana asks.

"To the cafeteria," Maribel replies and leads us into the corridor. As I step out into the corridor, some force suddenly pulls me back as the others walk by. I turn around, it's Quinn.

"Stay with me," she whispers.

My eyes widen, "How bad did he take it?"

"I don't know, but he's with my dad," She mutters.

"And?"

"Turns out my dad was hiding the rest of his whiskey stash," She whispers angrily. "And Puck joined him after I told him. We should tell the others before he does."

I nod in agreement. If people are going to find out my other secret, I should have a part in telling them.

"Come on," Quinn says taking me by the hand and leads me towards the cafeteria.

The cafeteria is just as I remember, sweaty greasy and dirty filled with the aromas of unidentifiable foods, except it is is darker because the windows have been blacked out. The others stand around one large table, talking as Carol and Shelby place plates of food down.

I see Puck and Russel in one corner, sharing the ends of a bottle of whiskey as Jake tries to confront his half brother.

Quinn clears her throat, and I swallow nervously. My palms start to sweat as she squeezes tighter on my hand. The first pair of eyes that I meet are Shelby, she looks at me with sorry, ashamed eyes and I feel bad. I shouldn't be annoyed with her, she was only trying to kind.

"Oh look it's my ex-girlfriend," Puck slurs, there is anger in his voice.

"Hush Puck," Santana snaps.

"Listen up," Quinn announces sharply, all eyes are now on her. "If you're going to hear this, you should hear it from us, Rachel and I are dating, and we were before this whole thing happened, nothing will change as a result. We need to stick together if we want to survive, we need to co-operate and get along with each other. So if any of you have a problem with this or anything you need to say it so we can fix it, there will be no disputes in our group."

Nobody says a word, I can see everybody looking at us in surprise. Carol turns her head to the side, I'm afraid about how she's going to take this news.

"Oh great," Russel remarks drunkenly. "So now she's gay. Well my days just get fucking better by the minute don't they?"

"Russel," Shelby snaps pointing to the door. "Get out, and come back when you're sober."

"Gladly," Russel answers and stumbles towards the door, carrying the alcohol with him. I glare at him the whole way out. What a jerk.

Puck stands up, unsure what to do, he slowly approaches Brittany who is holding Beth.

"You too Puck," Shelby says, holding out a plate of food. "You're not going near my daughter until you're sober, and you need to say sober if you think I'm going to let you anywhere near her."

"Fine," Puck hisses, he takes the plate from Shelby's hand and leaves the room.

Quinn sighs and shakes her head, "Come on, let's eat."

I'm kind of relieved that nobody says anything as we sit down in the two free seats between Santana and Kitty. I stare at the plate of food in front of me and try to make out what it is.

"Don't even try to figure out what that is," Kitty whispers from beside me. "Just eat it, trust me it tastes a lot better than it looks."

"Thanks," I whisper and cautiously begin to eat. The blend of food has an unnaturally soft texture but a surprisingly sweet taste.

"It's the closest we get to a balanced meal," Quinn explains. "Carol and Shelby would prefer us not to know what goes into it so they blend it all together."

"I'm sorry about your dad Quinn, again," Kitty whispers. "And I'm glad you and Rachel could be together."

I look at her with a smile.

"Thanks Kitty," Quinn says, "It's getting pretty difficult to live with him though."

"I know how you feel," Kitty answers, looking over at Jake who sits opposite us with his arm around Marley. She says no more and returns to her food.

Across the table I watch Shelby trying to feed Beth who smiles adoringly at her mother but Shelby seems to be distracted, she looks regretful, I don't want her to feel bad about before, I guess I should talk to her. She looks up and our stares meet for about three seconds, she frowns apologetically at me before looking back to Beth.

Suddenly she rises from the table, and picks up Beth. Nobody says anything as she exits the room, obviously everybody feels secure enough in this school so that anybody can just walk around. I push the ends of my food to the side of my plate.

"You ok?" Quinn asks.

"I'm going to go talk to Shelby," I tell her.

"Good," she smiles, "But do you need me to accompany you?"

"No," I shake my head. "I'm fine." I rise from the table and make my way out of the swinging doors of the cafeteria, to follow Shelby. I'm not sure where she has gone but the sound of a child crying gives me a good idea. I follow the sound in the direction of the choir room, as I come closer I can hear voices.

"Come on Beth," Shelby coaxes, "I'll play you a song, you'd like that right?"

I stop in place as I hear her press down on a chord on the choir room piano. She swiftly begins to play a recognisable song amid the child's cries.

As she begins to sing, Beth ceases to cry. I stand outside the door, mesmerized by her voice as she sings a song we once sang as a duet.

_"There's a place for us, somewhere a place for us, peace and quiet and open air, hold my hand and I'll take you there,"_

In my head, I join her in the next verse, I am over come by the beauty of this song.

_"There's a time for us, Some day a time for us, Time together with time to spare, time to look, time to care," _

Slowly and nervously I walk in as she sings, "_Some day, some where, we'll find a new way of living."_

_ "We'll find a way of forgiving," _I sing quietly as I join her beside the piano. Her fingers freeze.

"Rachel," She whispers.

"Sorry I interrupted," I tell her.

"No it's okay, Rachel I'm so sorry for earlier on," She whispers.

"Don't be, you didn't do anything wrong," I tell her and sit down. "I just probably would have prefered if everyone found out later."

"I'm sorry Rachel, about that, about your dads, about Dani," She says.

"I just need to keep going, that's all we can do," I sigh. "That song was beautiful, we sang it together once."

"I know," she smiles warmly. "I was afraid you had forgotten. You know I had completely lost music until today when Dani and Santana sang, I heard it from the corridor and I've heard it in my head all day. Music is such a big part of my life, I can't believe I had forgotten about it for so long, espeicially when I'm surrounded by it."

"Mama," Beth calls, she's sitting on the top of the piano swinging her legs. "Who's she?"

"Beth this is Rachel," Shelby tells her.

"Hi Rachel," The girl smiles politely. The more I look at her, the more resemblance to Quinn I can see. I can imagine Quinn being this happy and innocent at one time.

"Hello Beth," I say. "How old are you now?"

She holds up four fingers before turning to Shelby. "Mama where's Puck? Why did you send him away?"

"Puck had to go to bed," Shelby answers her. "He was sick. He'll be better soon."

"Okay," The girl smiles. "Mama can I go get my teddy bear?"

"Where did you leave it?" Shelby asks.

"My room," the four year old answers. She's a lot more intelligent than I thought, but then again I just think of her a baby, I can't believe she is four.

"Fine but you come straight back here, do you understand?"

"Yes Mama," she nods as she skips away.

"Will she be okay?" I ask Shelby.

"She's a good girl, she'll be fine," She answers confidently.

"How do you do it Shelby? Stay so strong for her?"

I don't feel like I have a choice," She says, running her fingers along the piano. "She is only four, I want to conceal the world outside from her as much as I can. I don't want her to live her childhood years in fear, I don't want her to adapt to this."

"So you think this will end? That things will be normal again?"

"Well maybe not exactly the way they were, but if our race created this, surely we can end it. You got to stay hopeful, and remember the things that matter most," she says.

"And what are they?"

"Love, friendship, family," She explains, giving me a warm smile. "We have to take care of those who mean the most of us. I'm so glad you found Quinn, you two deserve each other. She's been so worried. So have I," her words fade away.

"I know," I whisper. "Quinn told me. I'm really greatful Shelby, really I am, thank you for being so caring, thank you for coming all the way here just to find me, and I'm sorry you had to worry over me."

"I guess it was a motherly instinct," She whispers faintly.

"I am really glad you and Beth are okay, and that you are here with us," I tell her.

"I am glad about that too," She smiles, she wraps a warm arm around me, the gesture is sudden but I don't mind it, I hug her back.

"I'm sorry about our past Rachel, you know I couldn't be there and I wish I had begged your fathers a bit more so that I could have been a part of your childhood but maybe we could try to be closer, to watch out for one another," She offers.

"I like that idea," I smile. "What time is better than this?"

"Mama," Beth squeals as she runs back in the door way, holding a rugged, brown bear in her arm.

"Hey there," Shelby greets her with a kiss on the forehead. I smile at them, wishing that it could have been me when I was four. I turn my head at the sound of a cough at the door way.

"Rachel?" Quinn calls. "Do you want me to show you to the room?"

I beam at her, I seem to feel relief everytime I see her now. "Sure," I smile. "Goodnight Shelby,good night Beth."

"Good night Rachel," Shelby returns.

I quickly join Quinn. "I'm glad you're getting along with her," she says.

"Me too," I admit. "How long were you standing outside the room for?"  
"A while," She confesses, she leads me down the familiar hallway to the girls locker room, a room I seldom used. "I didn't want to interrupt."

She opens a red door with her skeleton key, I can't see past the darkness of the room until she switches on the lights. The locker room is tidy and preserved, it's not as dirty as I always most locker rooms can be.

She turns back to close the door.

"Please don't lock it," I ask her. "As much as I trust you, I need to know I can escape."

"That's ok," She smiles, putting the key into her pocket. "Are you tired?"

I nod and yawn,"I'm exhausted." It's been such a long day, too long.

"Me too," Quinn says. "But I don't want to go to sleep, not yet."

"How come?"

"I'm afraid that if I go to sleep I'll wake up and it will all have been a dream," She admits.

"Well I don't intend on going anywhere," I reassure her.

"Good," she says." Because I'm really not prepared to let you go. Rachel, I haven't felt so good in a long time. It's all because of you." She comes closer to me and kisses me , I feel her teeth gently bite down on my bottom lip as she grins at me. I'm sure I can see mischief flare in her eyes.

Her lips move down to my neck, I have to move backwards towards a bench in fear that my knees will fail me and I will crumple on to the floor.

I slide a hand around her neck and return the kisses. She gently puts a finger to my lips so she can resume, she moves all the way down my neck until she gets to my chest, and looks up at me with bright, suggesting eyes.

"Rachel?" She asks. "Can I? We don't have to."

I nod, allowing myself to trust her. I have nothing to fear in Quinn. I feel safe in her presence it feels like not even a knife or a bullet could hurt me as long as she is here by my side. She presses her palms against my shoulders and gently pushes me down so that I am lying on the bench. She smiles as she slowly but seductively opens my shirt buttons. She begins to hum some tune under her breath. As she pulls herself closer to me, I recognise the song as"I Feel Pretty", which is one half of our first duet.

She moves her lips to my ears and in a sweet melody sings, _"I feel pretty and witty and bright, and I pity any girl who isn't me tonight."_

* * *

**_Hey, sorry for the delay in uploading, I've had serious writer's block so I apologize if this chapter isn't good. Also I think there will be only a few chapters left, I don't like have fics with too many chapters, but there will be a sequel which I am not going to delay in writing._**

**_Thanks for all the support, it means so much to me 3_**


	18. Chapter 18

"Rachel! Rachel!" A panicked voice cries at me. "Wake up Rachel!"

I open my eyes and find myself in a confused, hot sweat.

"Rachel you were screaming, are you okay?" Quinn asks as she sits down beside me on the floor.

"I'm fine, It was just a bad dream," I answer while trying to convince myself. "Where did you go to?"

"I just got up for two seconds to check the time," she answers me. "I came back and you were screaming your lungs out. Are you sure you're okay?"

I nod and sit up beside her, she places my head on her shoulders. "You look beautiful when you're sleeping you know," she tells me. I blush at the compliment. I'm not half as pretty as Quinn, it still surprises me that she chose me. She could have had any person she wanted but she chose me instead.

I remember our first date, I think I was more nervous than she was, but she had promised we could go outside Lima anyway.

_ We arrived outside a large brick building, we had been driving almost an hour just to reach it. I glanced up at the sign hanging from a post outside the door which read "The Flame."_

_ "What is this place?" I asked Quinn as she opened my car door._

_ "It is one of the best restaurants in this side of Ohio, they do amazing steaks and the bar is pretty decent too."  
"But what if there are people from Lima inside?"_

_"I've never once met somebody from Lima here, come on Rachel, it will be fun," she winked and pulled me inside. Once we were inside, a waitress showed us to a table by the window that had been reserved for us, with a lit candle in the centre. _

_"I'm glad it's a nice night," Quinn smiled as we sat down. "The view of the stars is incredible."_

_ When the waitress came back around, Quinn ordered for both of us, I was a bit annoyed but it turned out to be the best steak I had ever eaten. At the end of the meal, Quinn paid the waitress in cash._

_"You should have let me pay my half," I frowned._

_"Then it wouldn't be a date," she grinned._

_"Nobody has ever put in this much effort on the first date," I told her._

_"I hope that means you're impressed," She smiled. "I was thinking we could go to the bar for dessert."_

_ I couldn't resist but to return her mischievous smirk, it was strange seeing the Yale student so playful. Her black clothes were tight and revealing and her red lipstick made her look unbelievably sexy. She pulled out a stool for me at the bar and sat beside me. _

_ "Two martinis please," she asked the bar tender who quickly obliged. She raised her glass to me, "Here's to the start of something new." _

_My glass clinked off hers and as we finished together she ordered some more._

_"Miss Fabray," I smiled. "Are you trying to get me drunk?"  
"Not unless you want me too," she smirked._

_"Miss, you're drinks have been paid for by the young man at the end of the bar," the bartender interrupted. We simultaneously glanced down at the grinning, blonde haired 20- something year old opposite us, he was crazily handsome and he seemed to know that too._

_ Quinn rolled her eyes at him, "Give him back his money and tell him to fuck off," Quinn told the bartender pushing a twenty dollar bill into his palm. _

_ I stared blankly at her. "Why are you looking at me like that?" She asked._

_"Quinn, you could have anyone you wanted," I pointed out._

_"But you're not just anybody, I want you," She smiled and I blushed. "How do you find it? This being your first date with a girl and everything."_

_ I smiled at her and answered honestly. "Pretty good."_

_"Great, then we can do it again tomorrow, same time?"_

"What are you thinking about?" Quinn asks.

"Our first date," I reply.

"Oh," she smiles, holding me closer. "That was a good night. Although personally I found the fifth date a bit more exciting," she grins at the memory and I laugh.

"You're perfect," I tell her abruptly. "I mean it, I don't think I could cope with this anymore if you weren't here. Everything is better now."

"And everything will get better," She says. She begins to run her fingers through my hair. "It's so peaceful now, just the two of us, I wish this moment would last forever no death, no pain, no zombies."

"Me too," I reply. We sit in each other's embraces for countless minutes, just taking in each other's warmth. I'm wearing nothing but my under wear, but her touch shields me from the cold. She's more modestly dressed then I am however, she wears a large oversized tshirt.

"Quinn what are we going to do?" I sigh, ruining the perfect ambiance." As safe as it is here, we can't stay here forever, we'll run out of food, and lose all contact with those that are probably still alive."

"I know," she answers, "We haven't been able to leave because we've only had the one gun. It was too much of a risk. And we didn't really know where to go anyway, everybody was reluctant to leave, maybe they still are."

"We would need vehicles to get out of here, that's how we got in, we broke down the barrier into Lima," I tell her. "But there's none in the parking lot."

"Well I've found 3 police SUVs, about a mile away from the school, I think they have gas, we could get there, but it could be tricky," She informs me. "Do you think we have enough weapons to get us all out of here?"

"I think so," I reply. "We brought one gun each and a spare and some knives. But if we're leaving we have to go at midday, when it is hottest."

She sighs deeply, "I'm just scared of the risks, I'm not ready to lose you or any of the others. But maybe we've been here long enough. Maybe we need to go North before things get even worse."

"I think we should go," I reply.

"Come on, I guess we should go talk to the others about it, I have some fresh clothes if you want some," She says, standing up. She walks over to a locker nearby and throws over a red pair sweatpants with a matching t-shirt and hoodie.

"A cheerio uniform?" I grin at the thought.

"They're very comfortable," She replies. "You can take a shower if you need to although the water is pretty cold sometimes. I'd love to join you but I'm going to need to arrange this meeting. Better get it over and done with now."

I thank her with an appreciative kiss as I head towards the showers.

"Meet me in the choir room when you're finished," she tells me. "Just don't take too long okay?"

After I watch her leave the room, I head to the showers. She was right, they are cold, freezing in fact. I get in and out of icy water as quick as I possibly can.

Putting on the fresh cheerio tracksuit is surprisingly, a nice experience. The clothes are warm and soft and smell like fabric softener. I don't delay in exiting the room to find Quinn.

On my way down the corridor, I see Puck, he stares sternly at me. I bite my lip and look guiltily at the ground instead. From behind, my arm is linked.

"So what's this meeting about?" Shelby asks, leading me away from Puck. "Quinn told us we all had to be in the choir room in five minutes."  
"It's probably better if I let Quinn talk," I reply as we walk into the filling choir room. We take seats, just how we did in Glee club. Quinn is standing at the piano.

"Shelby," Puck whispers as he suddenly appears beside us. "I'm sorry for how I behaved last night."

"It's not me you need to apologize to Puck," She replies.

"So am I allowed to see her?" He asks.

"Puck!" The little girl announces gleefully, replying for Shelby as she runs over to him. Puck smiles.

"Hey there Princess," He smiles and takes her on his knee.

"Rachel!" Quinn beckons me. I walk over to her side. "Stay beside me, please?"

Carol, who brings Russel by the arm, is the last person in the room. She shuts it behind her. Quinn takes a deep breath before calling for quiet and attention.

"Everyone listen up," She calls. Every pair of eyes ar eon her except those of her father who is staring impatiently at the door. He still seems to be carrying effects of the alcohol and by the hand he has raised to his right temple, I can assume that he is suffering from hangover.

"So as you all know, we have been inside this building over a month now, we have not had any human contact, and as safe as we are here, we can not stay here forever."

The others instantly begin to mumble as fear appears on their tired, sleepy faces.

"It seems to be known that any survivors should travel up North where it is safe because the zombies can not tolerate the cold climate. I think it is really important that we go North if we wish to survive and we must do it quickly. Human contact is essential for survival. We need to know what's going on outside Lima, we don't know how many survivors there are but we need to find some."

"You want to leave?" Maribel gasps. "When?"

"As soon as possible," Quinn says. "We don't know how long it's going to take us to get there, but we can't sit around here any longer. There's other survivors up North, there has to be and if we want to live the rest of our lives, the human race needs to work together and combat against these zombies."

The first reaction I catch is Santana's, she looks bewildered. I watch her mouth fall in shock open before she protests, "What? But we just got here!"

"Isn't that really dangerous?" Brittany asks.

"Not if we're careful and tactical," Quinn answers.

"If we got in, we can get out," I back her up.

"Yes Rachel," Santana says, her face suddenly becomes heated. "But we lost Dani! And Rachel, I'm not willing to lose anyone else. Are you?"

I'm taken aback by Santana's change in attitude. Her words and glaring eyes pierce me like needles. I hope this sudden outburst of anger is just an after effect of Dani's death. I don't want to get on Santana's bad side.

"Look, we don't really have an option, we're going to have to leave this place sooner or later, and the earlier we do so the better," Quinn argues. "There's some SUV's just a mile from the east of the fence, if we get to them they'll take us all out of Lima and we can continue travelling North."

"But we don't know where we're going," Marley butts in.

"We don't but Rachel's group do," She replies, I bite my lip, wishing she hadn't called them "Rachel's group", I am no leader. "They can get us out of here safely."

Santana rolls her eyes, she is not happy with this plan, the high-schoolers don't appear to be either, they look from Puck to me with skeptical eyes.

"I think it's for the best," Shelby states. "We can't live in the school forever. I trust them to get us out of here safely."

"Quinn," Santana moans. "Please don't make us do this."

"We'll leave in five days, okay?" Quinn compromises. "That way we have enough time to build up our energy and prepare ourselves. Does anybody have anything to add? If not then we will meet back here tomorrow to construct our escape plan, meeting over."

The others leave the room with unsure and unhappy faces although they don't disagree with the plan. It seems like everyone here will follow Quinn's orders not matter what their own opinions are.

* * *

"Come on," Quinn sighs, taking me by the hand. "Let me show you something."

She leads me upstairs and back into the history classroom.

"We're going outside?" I ask.

"We don't have to if you don't want," she replies, turning to face my head but I shake my head and gesture for her to proceed. Once we have safely reached the ground outside, she links arms with me and heads towards the football fields. The wind is cold and runs through our hair like a ghost.

"I thought you might like to see where we buried your dads," Quinn confesses as we approach the fence. "We can turn around now if you want."

"No, it's okay, thank you for bringing me out here," I tell her, squeezing down on her hand. She carefully climbs up on to the metal fence, she makes it look easy as though she's done this a thousand times before, which she probably has. I, however, take a few minutes to complete the venture, trying to figure out my footing. I ease myself down once I'm on the other side and let my feet land in the soft soil below.

"Come on," she urges me. "This way." She follows a narrow pathway made out in in the grass, until finally we reach a large tree with rich, green leaves. My eyes widen to make sure the wooden handled shovel is really there, just like Quinn had told Santana it would be yesterday.

The smell of fresh dirt fills my nose and I follow the scent around the tree to the fateful sight. As my heart stops beating, every part of me freezes. Four mounds of earth are placed before me, it's a gaunt, ghastly and nauseating sight. I inhale sharply but I can't seem too be able to breathe out. On two of the mounds, ones with older soil, love heart shapes have been made out of wild flowers. I tear up at the sweet gesture but also at the reality that my Dads are really gone.

"Rachel," Quinn whispers, she wraps an arm around me. I gently remove her hand so I can kneel down on the ground, beside the mounds. This is where my dads, Burt and Dani have been buried. It's all too surreal.

"Dad, Daddy," I whisper to the ground. My mind fills with images of them smiling at me, and hugging me backstage at the end of the closing show of "Funny Girl", it's probably my last memory of them. I had promised to visit Lima but because of my commitment issues with Quinn, I never did. "I'm sorry. I'm sorry!" I cry.

The river of tears begins to flow from my eyes and I feel Quinn's unannounced presence at my side.

"Did you put the flowers there?" I ask. She nods silently. "Thank you, they're beautiful. Thank you for bringing me here Quinn."

"I'm going to give you a minute alone," She whispers, from the corner of my eye I see her walk deeper into the woods so I'm left alone at this make-do cemetery. I stare at the ground as I let the words come from my heart.

"I miss you two," I sob. "I've never wanted to let you go, definiely not like this, I'm sorry I couldn't be here to save you and I'm sorry you can't be here to watch me grow up." I sniff and try to control my heavy breathing so I can continue talking. "but I love you and I promise I will try to make both of you proud of me. And Dani, I will never forget you, nobody deserves the fate you got, especially not you. Watch over me please."

I close my eyes and focus on my breathing to try to calm down and console myself. I inhale, trying to find tranquility but that is interrupted by the sound of hastened footsteps on the ground.

"Rachel, we gotta go," Quinn whispers in a panic. I open my eyes, she looks flustered and unnerved. I look up at her in confusion, but I know from her expression that we really need to get out of here, she grabs my arm and pulls me up.

"What's wrong?" I mumble, my voice is weak from crying.

"A zombie," she whispers lowly. "A few minutes away, we got to get out of here now before if catches our scent."

She tugs on my hand and pulls me towards the fence. A horrible, low sound is following us, it's some kind of groaning. I quickly turn my head over my shoulder to see a stumbling figure in the distance on our trail. I think it could be female and seems to have some sort of injury slowing it down but it's coming for us all the same.

"Shit," Quinn mumbles, "how did it get here?" We reach the fence and Quinn urges me to climb it.

"Just climb it!" She panics. "Come on Rachel, we got to get out of here."

I scramble to find a suitable starting point for climbing, once I do I quickly climb over the fence without taking my eyes of Quinn who speeds over the fence just after me.

"Shit," She curses once we are on the school grounds again, "Come with me."

"Where are we going?" I whisper, her panic has me on edge.

"We'll talk when we get there, just follow me!" She insists.

She pulls me in a sprint back to the school and we hastily re-enter the building and out of the history classroom. She leads me up a flight of stairs and then another. I'm not sure where she's taking me. She pulls me into the janitor's closet on the second floor, inside is a small steel flight of stairs.

"Wait," she orders as she ascends the steps, opening a hatch in the ceiling above. I watch her climb out into the sunlight that shines in before she calls back to me. "Okay, come on up!"

I climb the unstable stairs, the sun light shines directly into my eyes, blinding me. I feel Quinn's hand wrap around mine as she hoists me up.

I finally am able to open eyes. I look at the sight around me. There are dead plants and all around are empty skies. We're on the roof of the school.

"This is my watch tower," she tells me as we walk across the warm surface of the flat roof. "I can see pretty much everything from up here."

She stand on the west corner of the roof and stares out across the football field, I gaze out over her shoulder. She points silently and I see the zombie we escaped, clawing and growling at the fence.

"Fuck," Quinn curses quietly, turning back to me. "I don't think we can shoot it, it might attract more."

Over her shoulder, something catches my eyes in the distance. I narrow eyes to try to make sure that I'm actually seeing this. The more look, the more sure I become. A hoard of zombies, a countless amount and a variety of sizes, has appeared in the woods, all proceeding towards the fence. I gasp in horror. As they begin to rattle on the fence and groan through their bloodstained teeth, fear and realization come over me.

"Quinn," The words barely come out. "I think it's too late for that."


	19. Chapter 19

My eyes remained fixed to the swarm of zombies gathering around the fence. They're clawing at it, rattling it and trying to break it down as in the distance, an even bigger hoard is coming to join the crowd. It's a mass I have never seen before. We have no chance against them.

"Fuck, there's hundreds of them coming, we can't fight them off," Quinn whispers. I can her urge to scream in her frightened eyes. "That fence isn't going to last, they're going to get in. How the fuck did they even get there?" She raises a nervous hand and runs it through her hair. "We have to get out of here, one zombie is easy to kill, but not that many. They're faster, stronger in groups. That must be half of the population of Lima, they'll get into the school. We're probably the only source food of left for have to leave while there's still time."

"Quinn, I-" I stammer, I can't believe this is happening, that we have to leave already.

"Rachel, come on, we don't have much time!" She shouts, pulling me by the wrist back inside. As we hurry down stairs she explains to me, "The SUV's are past the fence the opposite end of the school, just beside the parking lot. We can lift up the fence there and escape but we have to get everybody out under the fence before those zombies catch up with us. We need to grab kitchen knives from the cafeteria so that everyone has a weapon. We don't have much time."

Hearing Quinn so alarmed makes me even more nervous than I am, anything could go wrong. As we reach the ground floor Quinn begins to holler with a fierceness in her voice, "Everybody get to the choir room! Now!" The sterness in her voice sends chills up my spine. "Bring all weapons and possesions! Now!"

Down the hallway, doors creak open in a hurried panic as all the long time residents rush to the choir room, their faces filled with anxiety, while everyone who travelled here with me, stumble along slowly looking either confused or pissed off.

We gather in a standing circle inside the choir room. "What is it?" Santana asks impatiently. "What's with all the shouting?"  
"Zombies," Quinn breathes, "A huge crowd of them outside the fence where we buried the others."

Everybody gasps but Santana looks the most horrified. "What?" She cries.

"It's huge and it's only getting bigger, they're going to break the fence. It's not safe to stay here anymore!" Quinn exclaims. "We have to leave now!"

"Leave how?" Brittany questions.

"Those SUV's?" Shelby adds. "How can we get there?"

"There's a way of getting out of the fence just past the parking lot, it's how I've been getting out somedays," Quinn explains. "That's how we have to go."

"But you said this school is safe," Santana protests. "There's so much food and resources here."

"It's only safe as long as the fence does it's job. If the zombies break down the fence, they can get in here.

"If they break the fence," Santana remarks.

"Look we are no match for that hoard, there are hundreds of them, whoever wants may stay, but I sure as hell am getting out of here." Quinn replies, I glance up at her in shock, she's suggesting a split? I can understand Santana's reluctancy to leave but there is no chance of survival once that swarm hits.

"We need to move fast, so who's with me?" Quinn asks. I step closer to her to show my allegiance.

"We are," Shelby says as she, with Beth in her arms, takes a step towards Quinn.

"Then I'm coming," Puck announces, I notice he has my bagpack as well as his own with our weapons and the spares. H etosses it to me as he takes his place beside Shelby.

"I can't stay here any longer," Kitty remarks, joining us. "Honestly,I'm sick of this school." Marley and Jake unsurely follow her.

"Blaine, Kurt?" Quinn questions. The boys look at each other with wide eyes. They seem to communicate telepathically as they look from our side to Santana's with uncertainty.

"I'm going wherever they do," Carol declares.

"And I'm staying with Santana," Maribel replies.

I look over at Santana, she hasn't moved a foot out of place, she seems determined to stay here and I'm not but I'm not willing to lose her, she's like my sister.

"Santana," I insist as I walk towards her. "Please, I can't lose you."

"Rachel I can't leave, I don't have the strength to watch another person die," She shakes her head. "We're safe here. I can't go back out there yet."

"Santana, please," I beg. "You just have to be strong, you can take those zombies down, we saw you do it, you have to define the situation."

"I'm leaving," Brittany announces subtly as she steps towards Quinn. I look at Santana with wide, pleading eyes.

"Fine," she sighs. "I'm coming." A smile of relief flashes across my face and I hug her tightly.

"Then we're coming," Blaine declares for himself, Kurt and Carol. Russel is the only one left.

"Well are you coming or going?" Quinn asks impatiently.

He scoffs. "With you? My fucking disappointment of a daughter? Seems like I'm damned either way."

"Fine, stay here," Quinn hisses. "I don't give a fuck if you live or die. All of you, go get only whatever essential and light posessions you have if you don't have them already. Brittany come with me to the cafeteria now, the rest of you," she says looking at our sub group, "make sure you're weapons are loaded. Save a gun for me, okay? We meet back here in five minutes, then we leave."

"Rachel, I'm going back to the room," She whispers in my ear. "Do you need me to get anything?"

I suddenly reach into the back pocket of the new trousers I'm wearing and feel an unusual emptiness. "My knife!" I say. "I left it in the other trousers."

"That's okay, I'll get it," She promises. "Just stay here, okay?"

I nod and watch her hurry away, followed by Brittany. Puck turns to those of us who came here together, "Okay we all have our guns and a spare right?"

We nod in response and he takes out some bullets from his bag. "If you don't bullets in your own backpacks, take them from me, make sure your gun is fully loaded before we go out there, we need to protect this group."

I raise my eyebrow at him, am I the only one shocked by this change in attitude? What happened to his "every man for himself policy" which he has carried since day one, now he has made us into bodyguards. I bet this is all because of Beth, and that's not necessarily a bad thing. If Puck is in better moods, maybe we will be too and we won't have to worry about him shooting anyone.

He leaves, followed by Kurt and Blaine so that Santana and I are the only ones left in the room.

"So you're coming," I say with a small relieved smile.

"I have to," She whispers.

"Because of Brittany," I comment.

She looks to the ground ashamed. "Yes. Rachel, stop making me feel guilty, you know this feeling too, I can't control who I love, just because I love Brittany doesn't mean I'm over Dani. I have no intention of running straight into Brittany's arms like you probably have predicted me to." Her voice has turned slightly cold but also sad. "My main priority right now is to make sure that both she and my Mom survive this apocalypse and I can do that without being her girlfriend. If Quinn had chosen Puck, wouldn't you still protect her, even without showing your love for her?"

She's right, I've been too critical about her feelings. "I'm sorry Santana," I tell her. "I love you, and I want you to be happy. But I know you're safer coming with us, you should see the crowd of zombies outside, it's scary."

"I don't think I could have split up from you anyway," she confesses. "You got me here Rachel, you've been here for me always, I couldn't have gotten this far without you, I need you."

"We need each other," I point out. "Santana you're the only one who understood what I was going through."

"Look at us," she laughs through watery eyes. "Being all corny when there's a hoard of zombies outside that could potentially kill us. I guess we should keep good spirits while we can. Rachel, I really lost myself back there, to be honest I'm still not even half the person I used to be, but if it wasn't for you, I'd still be that quiet, scared and cowardly girl crying in the apartment in New York."

I laugh and we hug. I can't help but admire her emotional progress over the past few days, she's become so strong.

There's a clearing of a throat at the door. It's Shelby, with Beth at her side.

"I'm going to make sure my mom is okay," Santana tells me as she leaves the room.

"So," Shelby says, making her way across the room. "We're leaving."

"We're going on an adventure," Beth beams with delight. If only we were all so optimistic and oblivious to the world that awaits us outside.

"Yes," I mumble. "I don't think we have an option. We need to be quick though."

"It's okay, we'll get out of here," Shelby says calmingly. "Is it really that bad?"

I perceive her way of speaking so that Beth doesn't pick up what we're talking about. I nod and she purses her lips. "We better get going then."

"Shelby, Rachel, come on," Brittany says, as she peers in the door way. "Everybody is out here.

"Come on Baby," Shelby whispers to Beth as she takes her in her arms. "Time to go on our adventure." As we walk, she gently squeezes my shoulder. We join the assembled crowd in the hallway. Everybody looks slightly afraid as they clutch onto their backpacks of belongings. To much surprise, Russel has joined us.

"We leave together, follow me to the fence than we will all climb under it, after that we head for the SUV's and get the hell out of here," Quinn explains. Her tone is softer than Puck's anytime he was instructing us. "If anybody get's injured, you have to report it immediately. We got knives for everyone who don't have guns, but if you need to kill a zombie, aim for it's head, otherwise it's no use. Remember don't make any rash noises or movements unless they are absolutely essential! Brittany, give out the knives."

Brittany pulls an array of shining, steel knives from a bag containing cans of food and hands them out. Quinn grabs my wrist and places my covered knife in my palm. I smile gratefully at her, even though I've had a gun this whole time, I feel much more secure with my knife.

"Shelby," Puck calls as he shuffles over to us. He produces his switch blade from his back pocket. "Take my knife, it's light and easy to carry."

"Thanks Puck," Shelby whispers, taking the knife and placing it in her coat pocket.

"Let's go," Quinn calls. "We're running out of time." She is the first to move as she grabs my hand. She leads me upstairs as everybody follows behind until we get to the history classroom window.

"Rachel, go first?" She asks and I nod, clutching my gun. "I'll be with you in a minute."

I kiss her cheek as I climb up onto the ledge and open the window, climbing out onto the flat roof. I ease myself out and seconds later Shelby and Beth are following behind. I help them down on to the ground and one by one the others follow us down.

My heart beats nervously until Quinn is by my side again. "Hey," She whispers but something in the distance has caught her eye. "Oh shit!"

I look over my shoulder to the distant football field and realize what's wrong. The fence has been broken.

"Okay let's go!" Quinn shouts, "We need to hurry." She begins to run towards the parking lot and we follow. The zombies, at the pace they move, are maybe ten minutes away from the school building so we have to be quick. I can't help but look back and see the swarm that are entering the ground. They would have invaded the school easily without us knowing if Quinn hadn't taken me out to see my Dads.

We reach the fence and Quinn crouches down to the ground and throws away some rocks and piece of wood from the metal screening. She reaches her hand underneath the fence and lifts up the metal to reveal a sizeable gap for a single person to fit through. "Through here, but we got to be quick."

"Let Beth and Shelby go first," Puck requests, nobody objects. We allow Carol and Maribel respectively through next, then whoever else that isn't in posession of a gun.

"Rachel," Quinn insists once Santana , Kurt and Blaine have gone. I look at her worryingly, the zombies are almost near the school building but we should be safe. I get on my knees and push my belongings through the gap before crawling through. Santana pulls me up once I'm on her side of the fence, I am then followed by Puck and Quinn who pull down the fence and through the spaces in the screening, they place the rocks and wood back over the metal.

Quinn stands up, grabbing my hand again. I feel so safe, knowing she's always here beside me and she wants to be by my side as much as I want to be by hers.

"It's about midday," She informs us. "That means a lot of zombies will retract and go into hiding for the next two hours, others will stay out and try to bear the heat but they will be slow."

Quinn seems to know just as much as Puck on zombies. "Let's head to the SUV's."

She lets go of my hand so she can properly hold on to her gun while we walk but motions for me to stay by her side. We walk down the filthy, ghost streets of outer Lima, passing houses that have been abandoned or boarded up. Thankfully there are no signs of zombies anywhere.

A mile doesn't seem so far as I had thought when Quinn points out white and blue SUVs ahead of us. "You sure these are okay?" Puck questions skeptically from behind.

"Yes," She replies. "You still know how to hotwire?"  
Puck grins, "Of course, you telling that you do too?"

Quinn just grins mischeviously as we approach the thee SUV's. "Okay," she says, "There are fifteen of us, that's five per vehicle. I will drive one, Puck can drive another. Who can take the third?"  
"I'll do it," Shelby offers.

"No!" Puck protests. "Shelby that's too dangerous, you have to mind Beth. Let me drive you. Santana can take the third one, Santana you had an SUV before right?"  
"Yeah I guess," she whispers. Shelby rolls her eyes but doesn't argue. "Mom, you can come with me. Brittany?"

"Sure," Brittany smiles. We quickly arrange the rest of the subgroups making sure there is an even divide of guns between the three vehicles. As we have two guns, the three high schoolers come with us.

"You follow me," Quinn tells everybody. "There is a police radio in each SUVs, I know how to use them so I can contact you if there's an issue. Come on, let's get out of here."

Quinn opens the door of her decided vehicle, I watch in amazement as she hotwires it. Once the engine revs, she looks up at me, smirking.

"When did you learn how to do that?"  
"Long ago," She sighs. "During my punk days." She laughs at my worried expression, I can't imagine Quinn wiring cars for fun. Meanwhile Puck has wired the other too.

"Come on let's go!" Quinn calls as we enter the vehicle. She changes gear and begins to drive. I watch her right hand move down to the radio-tyoe machine in the centre of the car and pull it up to her face. "This is Quinn. Puck, Santana can you hear me?"

She receives the two expected replies, both confirming their ability to hear her, only seconds after Santana's response, the walkie talkie begins to crackle.

"Hello?" A sudden, male voice sounds through the static sounds. "Hello is somebody there? Do you hear me?"

Quinn looks at me in shock as she presses a button on the walkie talkie again. "Hello, this is Quinn Fabray, I'm in Lima Ohio, who is this?"

"Oh my god, there's somebody else alive! Thank goodness!" The voice says. "My name is Mitchell, I'm calling from Ann Arbor, Michigan. Can you hear me?"  
"Loud and clear," Quinn whispers, she looks relieved and amazed.

"Thank God! How many of there are you?" He asks.

"Fifteen," She answers. "Is your whereabouts safe? Do you have shelter? How may of there are you?"  
"There's only four of us left. Yes, we are in Hightown Hardware Store, we have completely safe shelter and supplies. Skylar, come here! There's someone on the radio!"

The voice changes , it is now a soft, friendly female voice, sounding as relieved as the man she is with. "Hello! My name is Skylar Fields, I am twenty two years old, who am I talking to?"

"Hi, my name is Quinn,I'm calling from Lima, Ohio," Quinn replies. "Why are you still in Michigan, is the state safe?"

"Well the zombie population seems to have died down here in Ann Arbor. But we've been in contact with authorities across the border," the woman explains. "We're waiting for a helicopter to take us to Toronto, but we've been told it may take some days, can you folks make it up here? Do you have transport? We'd love to help out if we can. The store is completely safe."

"Can you please wait for thirty seconds?" Quinn begs the woman on the other end. She presses something on the walkie talkie again. "Santana, Puck, did you hear that?"

"We heard it all right," Santana replies.

"How long will it take us to get there?" Quinn asks excitedly.

"Usually it takes two, two and half hours, but we're going have to break down another border and who knows what routes will be closed, but if all goes well we could make it by the end of the day," Puck's voice comes in over the radio.

"Mitchell, Skylar, we are heading your way now,we're in vehicles so it should take a few hours," Quinn speaks again. "I will try to contact you again once we are closer to Ann Arbor."

"Ok," Skylar replies. "Please take care."

Quinn drops the walkie-talkie and looks at me. I frown unsure of what to make of this. In the mirror over my head, Marley, Jake and Kitty seem to be excited by this encounter.

"You think they're genuine?" Santana voice cracks through the radio.

"They sounded genuine," Quinn replies speaking on the radio. "I think we should drive there, we could inspect the place before we go in, and if they're not, at least we have weapons. That's not so far away from the Canada, we can always keep going to the border."

"Okay," Puck cracks in over the intercom. "Let's go."

I say nothing but I have my doubts, this could be another trap, but at least time there are more of us and each of us has more sense than to split up, plus I have Quinn, I have no intention of leaving her side, not while we are both living.

* * *

_**Author's Note: Okay guys, thanks a million for all the reviews and follows/ favorites. Unfortunately this story is coming to an end, so I'm sorry in advance about the ending in the next few chapters. It might be unpredictable for some you and I'm sorry if you're angry about it, but there's a sequel if that helps? Anyway, please don't hate me guys, please? **_

_**Also I have never been to Ann Arbor, so the places I write about there will be fictional.**_


	20. Chapter 20

Quinn is driving, leading the other two vehicles. Puck has given us directions but reminds us of them every few minutes over the radio. I don't know how long we've been driving or how much longer we have to go but I don't care. For the first time on the road, I feel safe, it's partly because there's no zombies around due to the heat of the blaring sun in the cloudless, yet dull side. But it is mostly because Quinn is here by my side as we drive along these ghost roads. The fact that there is a bigger group of us makes me feel stronger to. The more of us there are, the greater chance we have of survival if we have to face a huge crowd of zombies, but on the morbid, down side, that's more people to try to protect.

The road we travel on is another endless grey strip with no live scenery visible, just dead grass and trees to either side. We have to travel at low-speed to swerve around abandoned cars and the occasional corpse. I can tell that other occupants of the car are pretty horrified due to lack of exposure, but they'll get used it.

"Quinn," Puck's voice breaks in. "We're coming up to the border in a few minutes, be ready."

"Okay," Quinn replies before anxiously tightening her grip on the steering wheel. I clench my teeth, the border cannot be good. It's going to be a challenge to get past it if somebody hasn't done so already.

We continue to drive cautiously up a hill that has appeared in the road, as we come close to the top of the hill something appears in the distance, making us all gasp in unison. Large, concrete walls at least fifteen feet high, secured with wire lay before us and another tall, quickly made provisional watch tower. Just like I thought this isn't going to be easy but fortunately, there doesn't seem to be a live zombie in sight.

Quinn slows down but continues to drive. "Shit," she curses. "I didn't think it would be this secure."

The border security comes fully into view, just like the other, there are bodies of zombies lying dead all over the road. This time there's no fencing we can cut through, it's all concrete and metal walls.

"Look there's a gate" Quinn points out, she's speaking over the radio also, ahead of us, I see a large metal gate, wide enough for just one vehicle to fit through if it was opened, it was probably used by police to get through the border "If we open it, we can go through in a single row, maybe I can run it down!"

"No Quinn!" I shout, noticing what is ahead of us but it is too late, she has accelerated over the sharp row of metal spikes on the road ahead. We are jolted forward as the SUV swerves uncontrollably as the sharp metal points have punctured the wheels.

"Fuck!" She shouts, slamming harshly on the brake. "Sorry." She tries to control the car until finally it stops. "Come on. We're going to have to try open this gate ourselves."

"And how will we get around?" Kitty wants to know.

"We'll find a vehicle on the other side of the border," Quinn replies.  
"But there's zombies out there," Marley points out.

"They're dead," I say, "We're safe, until we cross the border anyway."

"Quinn, are you okay?" Santana calls out through the radio.

"Puck, Santana," Quinn says over the radio to the two parked SUV's behind us. "We're going to open the gate, is there some way around those spears so you can drive through?"

"Yeah, we can drive around them," Puck answers. Quinn takes this as our cue to move. She kicks open her door and exits the vehicle, the rest of us follow. I place one foot on the cold, broken ground and take in the stench of rotting corpses around us. The three youths wince and cover their noses and mouths to keep out the smell.

We walk towards the large metal gate which is locked with a heavy metal lock. "How are we going to get it?" I ask.

"Give me a second, maybe we can shoot it off," Quinn replies, before I can say anything in protest she shoots a bullet at the lock, followed by another. The lock crashes to the ground below.

Quinn smiles impressed with herself, but I'm fearful, we don't know what awaits us on the other side and those gun shots could have attracted something.

"Rachel, Jake," Quinn calls. "Help me open the gate?"

It takes three of us to try move the heavy handle on the gate, my hands cramp from trying to pull it open. Finally it slowly creaks open, revealing the existing border turnpikes which have been broken down.

"Okay come on," Quinn calls to the two vehicles behind us. We watch them carefully drive around the road available to them so they can avoid the same fate as our SUV. If Quinn had been a bit more precautious, we would all be driving but I can't be mad with her, I probably would have made the same mistake out of eagerness.

They drive through the gate and we pull it closed behind us, if Michigan is safe, we don't need Ohio zombies invading. Quinn sighs with relief and smiles at me, "I can't believe it, I never thought we'd get out of the damn state."

But as usual the relief is interrupted, a sound of groaning emerges from near the turnpikes, we freeze in place and watch as five, maybe six zombies emerge.

"Zombies!" Marley cries. "Oh my god!"

Quinn rolls her eyes, "Look, if you're not willing to fight them go sit in the SUVs. We can fight them off right?"

I nod reassuringly, there are five of us, and the vehicles can probably help us too, but Marley suddenly tugs on Jake, pulling him towards Santana's SUV with her. Kitty watches them bewildered, before looking back to us. "Sorry," She whispers, "I need to stay with them." And just like that she's gone too.

"Assholes," Quinn mutters, under her breath, as the zombies come closer and a new scene comes to light. "Shit!" She cries aloud for both of us as i'm thinking the exact same thing. More zombies begin to come out from the darkness, about ten of them in total. And more of them in the distance

"Puck! Santana!" She shouts, "Try to run them over."

"Maybe we need help out here," I say as the SUVs drive to run down the zombies in the distance.

"No, it's okay Rach, we've got this," She replies, she begins to fire at the approaching zombies, three falling dead.

"Quinn!" I snap. "We can't keep shooting them, it'll only attract more!"

"Rachel, please, it's fine, we can catch up with the others before they have the chance to, please, take that one over there!" She shouts. I turn behind me, running towards a growling zombies and I decapitate it with my knife in one swift slice. Gun shots continue to fire behind me.

"Rachel!" Quinn shouts in a sudden panic. "My gun, it's out of bullets!"

I turn around in horror, she's being surrounded by two ravenous zombies. I throw over my gun, but my throw is too many metres too far, she won't be able to reach it now, how did this happen? How has she run out of bullets this quickly? With three zombies approaching me from behind, there's no way i'll be able to reach her in time. I should have just shot the gun.

She falls to the ground helplessly, I shriek. "No!" I whisper. "You are not killing my girlfriend!" Then I pull out my knife and do the only thing I can possibly think of that might save her. I slice open my hand, letting hot blood come oozing from the wound. I see the two zombies whip their head around, and change their direction, now stalking towards me. "Quinn! Go!" I shout as zombies begin to crowd me, I start to run, trying to head towards the SUVs but zombies are appearing from nowhere, all growling, thirsty for my blood.

I run past them, finding myself at the low, 2 feet fencing on the side of the road, as they advance on me I trip backwards over the fencing and go tumbling down the brown grass hill underneath, hitting my head hardly. At the bottom of the small hill, I am greeted by even more zombies, with the zombies above me, climbing over the fence to follow me. I'm running but with the amount of zombies, with raw faces and black, thirsty eyes coming from the different angles, it's becoming impossible to find somewhere to run to.

Suddenly I'm cornered, I have three of them advancing in on me and another twenty circling them. I shouldn't have run so far away but I couldn't let them attack Quinn, especially when she was so defenseless, I try to look around and find some place to escape to but I'm a dead girl walking, I know there's no hope. The zombie in the middle is coming towards me quickest, with no visible flesh remaining on its face and an empty eye socket, I can't help but pity it, this is what is to become of me. He bears his teeth, lowering his mutilated face to me, I rashly and stupidly put out my arm to push him away.

And that's when his sharp teeth sink deep into my flesh. "AGH!" I cry out, the pain is so sudden and so terrible. I try to push him away, but he remains there, his teeth lodged in my arm. With my leg and a rush of adrenaline, I kick him away, only for him to turn back around and begin to close in on me again, the others are drawing closer too. My mind is spinning, everything is such a rush. My conscience is screaming at me to run. If I stay here, they'll rip me to pieces, I have to escape. Without even thinking about what I'm doing, I run through the gaps under the arms of the zombies. Everything is a bright, confusing blur, I just keep running and running, not sure where my feet are taking me. I'm far away from the road where Quinn is. I just let my conscience take control now. I just need to get somewhere where I'll be alone and safe.

And suddenly I'm climbing, some rough wall that hurts my finger tips as I climb. I try so carefully not to smear blood on to the side of the wall. Once I am halfway down the other side, I let myself fall, hitting a cold concrete surface. I can't make out where I am, there's a grey building behind me and high, brick walls all around. My heart is racing and I've lost control of my breathing. I remember the throbbing pain in my arm and look down to see the bleeding,deep wound in my right arm where there are bite marks are visible. The streams of blood begin dripping down my arm and hand and on to the ground. I try to gasp in horror but I'm frozen in shock, I can't believe this has happened. I'm finished, done for. It's all over.

"No, no, no, no," I mumble in disbelief, but as the reality becomes clearer, my mumbling turns into loud, deafening howling and the tears come pouring. "No! No! NO! QUINN! PLEASE SOMEBODY! Help me!"

* * *

I have been sitting on the cold, hard ground for at least an hour now. I never thought my life would end so miserably, that I'd be left alone to succumb to a cruel fate in some unknown place in Michigan. I'm so weak that I can no longer move and since I have lost my gun along the way, I can't even have the dignity to kill myself before the infection does. As for Quinn, I wanted her to be by my side when I died, but I guess it's for the best. She's safe now while I become a repulsive monster. Maybe some saint will put me out of my misery before I kill someone.

As the moments pass, I feel my strength and humanity slip away, my breathing becomes heavier and slower, my chest hurts every time I inhale and the wound in my arm burns with a vicious ferocity like I've never felt before, I scream loudly in response until finally I bite down on my fist to stop the screams escaping and attracting zombies. It is becoming increasingly difficult to keep my eyes open, I must be slipping into the unconsciousness that Quinn told us about, and when I awake I will be reborn as a demon. I have to accept that this the end of my human life and I should at least die with a content mind, as i struggle t breathe I think back to one of my happiest moments.

_"Rachel," Quinn's voice called from nowhere. I looked up from the Nationals Trophy I had been staring at and looked at her with confusion. It had been a week since we had last seen each other at the disbandment of New Directions._

_ "Quinn," I greeted. "What are you doing here?"  
"I was visiting my Mom," she explained, she surprisingly seemed happy to see me, "So while I was around I decided to visit Mr. Schue again before I go back to Yale, what are you doing here?"_

_"Oh," I replied. "Well I just came to give two tickets to Mr Schue see the show in a few weeks. That was about an hour ago, I guess I got distracted, looking at all these memories."_

_ She nodded. "They're happy memories, it's nice to get lost in them sometimes. That's very kind of you, the tickets I mean. I have mine ordered."_

_"You do?" I said in surprise. "_

_ "Of course, Rachel you fulfilled your dreams and that deserves to be recognised," She smiles, "I'm looking forward to it, and sometime in New York also."_

___"Are you going with Puck?" _

_____She frowned. "No, I'm not, I think I'll go with my mom."_

_____"Is everything okay with you and Puck?" I asked quietly, I instantly regretted my question, knowing I should do better than pry into her private life._

_____ "I don't know," She shrugs. "Maybe it's just that start-of-relationship awkwardness or maybe it's because I've had different experiences, but the feeling that was there before is just kind of gone. It's not going to work out."_

_____ I bit my lip, I felt bad for her but I was also surprised, it was very seldom that Quinn opened up to people._

_ "Funny, how I keep finding myself back here. Honestly I never wanted to leave McKinley, it's a crazy world out there," She sighed, taking a step closer to me. At that moment, I looked up at her, her blonde hair was perfectly in place and her hazel eyes were gleaming. Her floral dress and red cardigan somehow portrayed her modesty and sensibility. Quinn really fascinated to me and to be completely honest I idolized her. She had turned her life around, she had gone from having a baby to hitting rock bottom to climbing all the way back to the top again, now she was completely strong and independent and in charge of her own life._

_ "I'm going home now,are you coming that way?" She asked politely. I accepted her invitation and walked in step with her through the hallway_

_"High school decides your whole life," She sighed ,"There's so many things I wish I had done, but you can't change the past. One of my regrets is how I treated you."_

_I looked at her. "Quinn, it's okay, you've apologized for that before."_

_"I know," She said, sighing again. She pushed open the door of the school and we began walking out the gates of the school. "But sorry isn't always good enough, you're a beautiful person, inside and out and I really like you. I wish we had been closer all the way through high school."_

_ I blushed, Quinn Fabray, the most gorgeous girl in school had just called me beautiful. I watched her brush her hand through her hair when I realized that I was looking at an image of perfection. Quinn was truly unique, she was just a perfect blend of everything, she had brains, beauty, courage and compassion. Her ability to fix mistakes was incredible. And at that moment, I felt angry at Puck for not making her happy, because that's what she deserved. Anybody would be lucky to have Quinn as a girlfriend._

_ "Quinn," I breathed. "I wish we could have been closer too."_

_ "I hope you don't mind me asking but are you okay? Do you have somebody in your life?"_

_"No," I replied. "I guess I haven't found anybody special enough to help me move on."_

_"Well when you find that person, they'll be really special," She told me, we were now walking towards the empty park nearby. As we continued to walk I could feel her eyes, fixed on me. "I mean it Rachel, you're really beautiful."_

_ I froze and looked up at her. Why was I so fortunate to receive such attention from Quinn, I could feel my heart racing and a smile spreading across my face without my consent. I was confused by these sudden feelings, I had never felt so happy being in the presence of any other girl before, but then again Quinn wasn't just any girl. _

___ Her phone began to ring in her pocket, she pulled out the vibrating device, and I could see Puck's picture on the screen, envy took over me. "I'll call him later," Quinn sighed, putting the phone away. _

___ "Rachel, you're not like any other girl I've met," She whispered. "Or been with."  
My jaw dropped. "You mean you're?"_

___ "I don't believe in sexuality," she whispered. "I believe in love, and that can come in any form. Love and relationships should be about a person's characteristics, not their gender. Rachel, like I said you're a really amazing person."_

___ I gasped, suddenly asking myself what she was implying. She smiled to the ground before glancing at the watch on her wrist. "Oh crap I have to go meet my Mom," She cursed. "Rachel, can I call you later? I want to see you before I go back to Connecticut, but only if you want to?"_

___ I smiled, dumbstruck and nodded my head. I felt dizzy and overwhelmed all at the same time, I couldn't believe what was happening, I was so caught up in this amazing feeling that I forgot about the reality that was continuing around me, if I wasn't so disoriented I could have been sure that Quinn giggled at my reaction._

___ "Talk to you later then," she grinned, then slowly but so surely, she bent down and kissed me lightly on the lips. As she walked away, I remained there stuck in place, my eyes fixed on her and my lips tingling from her warm kiss. I wondered what I had done right to gain the admiration of somebody so amazing and when I would get to feel this way again._

"Rachel," the voice comes so sweetly and unexpectedly. I must be dreaming. This is how I want to go, dreaming of Quinn by my side.

"Rachel," she repeats, her voice is harsher and filled with worry. She pants, tiredly. "Rachel wake up."

I open my eyes and see her standing beside me. "Quinn," I smile, I feel so happy to see her despite the writhing pain that I am in. I reach out my hand to touch her.

"Oh my god Rachel," she shrieks, running to my side. "Why did you leave? What happened to you?"

I hold up my right arm with my left, the poison inside the wound has begun to turn my blood black. I wince at the horrible sight.

"No!" Quinn shouts as she gazes, unblinking, at my arm. "No Rachel, this can't be happening. Please, please let me wake up from this nightmare."

"No!" She begins to scream continuously.

"It's okay," I whisper in between deep breaths. I take her hand mine and our fingers interlock. "You're here now. I'm going to be okay. It's going to be over soon.""

"No, I can't accept this! This isn't fair," Quinn shakes her head, as tears silently fall down her face. "We got one day together."

"And one great night," I smile, trying to ease the pain, but the excruciating pain in my arm pulls me down to reality. I don't know how Dani stayed so strong, I constantly feel the need to scream, but I can't do that while Quinn is here. She cups my face in her hand. "You saved me Rachel. I'm so sorry, this all my fault."

"I didn't come all the way here to watch you die," I reply weakly. I hate this, all my strength is gone, even if I had the gun I don't think I have enough energy to pull the trigger.

"Rachel!" Quinn tries to protest but I hush her.

"Quinn," I croak. "I need you to shoot me."  
"What? No!" She says, aghast, "No Rachel, I won't do it."  
"You have to! Please Quinn, I don't want to die like this, I want to die human."  
"I can't kill you," She sobs. "No there has to be another way! A cure or something."

"There isn't, I have to die. Please Quinn, I'm so tired, I don't want to become a monster."  
"You'll never be a monster Rachel. If you die, what will I have to live for? If you die, I'm going with you!"

"Quinn! No!" I beg. " Just promise me you'll kill when I'm sleeping. You have to Quinn, like Dani said everything dies, and this is my time. You can't die, the others need you, you have to keep going, please, for me? I mean it Quinn, you have to survive and try to keep the others alive too. Don't let me die in vain."

I watch her shake her head, I'm running out of energy to argue with her, there is a throbbing pain inside my skull, i don't know how much longer I can bear this pain. I just want to be dead, to have all this pain ended. A bullet has never been so promising. Finally Quinn takes a deep breath. "Fine," she whispers, "I'll do it for you, because I love you with every inch of my being.

"Quinn, do me a favour?" I whisper, I know that these last few words will be my last, my time is limited.

"What?"  
"Sing me to sleep."  
"What do you want me to sing?" She stammers amid her sobbing.  
"Anything," I tell her, I want nothing more than to hear her soft melodic voice one more time before I die.

She clears her throat and runs her soft fingers through my hair as she begins to sing, I can hear her trembling, but the music is perfect anyway, her words come as softly as the tears that fall from her eyes on to my forehead and her trembling hands that cup my face.

_"When you try your best, but you don't succeed  
When you get what you want, but not what you need  
When you feel so tired, but you can't sleep  
Stuck in reverse_

_Lights will guide you home, and ignite your bones,  
__and I will try, to fix you."_

_Tears stream down your face_  
_When you lose something you cannot replace,_

_Lights will guide you home, and ignite your bones,_

_and I will try, to fix you."_

Finally I feel myself slipping away from this world I knew and everyone left in it, I savor this final moment of serenity by closing my eyes and I acknowledge that I am ready to receive a bullet to my skull once I am asleep. I never thought death would be so peaceful but Quinn has made it so, with my last conscious breath I speak out the truest words I have ever spoken, "I love you Quinn Fabray."

* * *

_**Sorry.**_

* * *

_**(I'm really, really sorry. Please don't hate me, and please you'll understand why I did this if you read the sequel which I'm going to publish in a few days, also there will be an epilogue to this story.)**_


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